A new company called Enurgi has taken its cue from social networks by creating a service network that connects caregivers with patients and facilitates their business transactions online.
The site is premised on the notion that it is currently too difficult for the elderly and disabled to find professionals to care for them (or clinicians to find clients who can benefit from their particular skills). Since Enurgi serves as a tool for both patients and caregivers, it can be viewed from either of two ends.
Professional caregivers can join the site by claiming their identity (with scanned proof of license) from a database of about 1.5 million caregivers, which Enurgi has built up from public records maintained by states across the US. Once registered, caregivers fill out their profiles with information about their specialties, work experiences, accreditations, locations, and contact methods. If they already have clients, they can record the times they are busy in an online calendar. Soon, caregivers will also be able to run background checks on themselves using LexisNexis and post the results of those checks on their profiles. Once ready, these caregivers can then find people in need of their services by searching Enurgi’s pool of registered care recipients.
On the other end of things, those in need of care (or those who have responsibility for those in need of care, like family members) can register and set up their own profiles with information about their medical conditions, lifestyles, support systems, and needs for special care. They too can fill out an online schedule for themselves but will probably skip right ahead to searching for caregivers who live in their area, who are registered with the site, and who possess the right expertise.
Caregivers and care recipients can establish relationships by sending each other messages through the website. Enurgi will then keep track of these relationships, help schedule sessions with its calendaring system, and manage all of the payments that clients send to their caregivers through the website (powered by PayPal). Clients can also post reviews of their caregivers that can be viewed by other potential clients. Among Enurgi’s features is a tool that helps care recipients calculate how much money they will have to spend on services given their insurance coverage. Another tool helps caregivers deal with the paperwork of working under contract.
Enurgi will determine in time just how it wants to make money from its service. However, they plan on taking a percentage of each financial transaction made through its site (although not until January).
Enurgi demonstrated its service in the TechCrunch40 demo pit this past September.
Is there no privacy left?!
Will the elderly turn to a website to fulfill their needs?
Axel – while some (increasingly) might, I imagine this site will be most popular with the family members of those who need care.
I don’t think this is a bad idea. They already supposedly have 1.5 million caregivers, so even if they only suck a dollar out per month per caregiver, and per customer, that’s still a a lot of revenue.
Interesting. If this site is able to succeed in the marketplace, it’ll at least serve SOME practical purpose. (unlike the stupid ’serial killer’ facebook app i helped develop)
Why’s the business model such that the patient pays? Shouldn’t the seller (in this case, the care giver) be responsible for the transaction side of things? It’s probably easier to bring in the care takers than it is to bring in the actual users. And when you do bring in the users, asking them to pay seems super lame.
TechCrunch did a great job reporting about ENURGI. However, the pricing structure is not subscription based. ENURGI will earn its money as small percentage of each transaction when a cargiver gets paid through the ENURGI care management portal. All other features and services offered through the site, including finding a caregiver or patient, are free to users across the country.
Holy moly, I bought that logo a couple years ago for a bookstore, glad it’s still getting mileage. Almost 100% certain it’s from 1800mylogo or one of those.
Alright, I guess I was sort of exaggerating, I had to check archive.org to be sure. Just the same style, shapes, and font, not the same.
http://web.arch...images/logo.gif
Enurgi (sp?) —> Energy.
Damn web 2.0 illiteracy.
The aging baby boomer’s out number geeks N-1.
Mark, great to see some news about these aging hero’s and technology helping them!
…no I am not a boomer…
I was just wondering if a site like this existed because of my mother’s recent poor condition. I don’t think paypal is the way to go (atleast completely) because my parents still have a ton of cash, take care of their own expenses, and absolutely do not have paypal.
Two things come to mind with their target demographic:
How do deal with the fact many of these people in need of care of Bluecross/Blueshield, so some way to accept money from insurance providers would be ideal.
Would this make sense as a google acquisition considering their recent announcement of a healthcare platform?
the problem is that of the 1.5m listings they have, very few probably do in home care.
I am familiar with the industry and know that most states only require a home health care agency to employ 1 actual RN and the rest of the employee’s are just minimum wage caregivers.
With that said…I don’t see much value.
I think that elderly care is a good marketspace to be in, although the choices in care are not the classic “search and compare price” type service offerings. Families normally narrow the choice to certain geographic constraints…still the ability to find a specialist and see background checks are nice features
http://www.leveragingideas.com
Enurgi = take Electronic, NUrsing, careGIver and put it into a blender?
I think the concept is most likely of http://rl.tv/.
Presumably in its name the founders are trying to capture how an old, toothless, slightly senile man would say “energy”. “Ennnnn…. uhhhh…. geeee.” Quite clever, really.
Interesting concept. Another website (http://www.healthbase.com) connects people to low cost high quality medical care worldwide. For major surgeries, the cost savings are over 70%. They offer over 200 procedures in 7 countries. You can find their customer testimonial videos online at: https://www.hea...estimonials.jsp
Sounds like a good idea but… you know there’s a but or two. Sounds way too time consuming to get going initially for both the caregivers and patients. Most people in those categories aren’t too computer savvy so the process has to be brain-dead simple to get masses to sign up, which somehow I doubt based on what I read above. Second, I am not comfortable with picking someone up from a faceless national database, maybe it’s just me but I much prefer a personal referral from a friend.
@AnonTroll:
The patient doesn’t have to be computer savvy, as computer savvy family members can perform the search and transactions. What a great way for family members to track the care of their elderly loved ones from a distance.
Yes, personal referrals are best, but what happens if your parents/grandparents retired to Arizona and you don’t know anyone there? Referrals from the insurance company are pretty faceless and sterile.
Love the fact that the middleman is cut out, potentially increasing the revenues of underappreciated caregivers and reducing costs to the patient.
When we need a caregiver for our family members, I bet we will be thankful Enurgi is there to help.
The business model is build around paying via this site through Paypal. But after the caregiver and recipient have met for the first time they can pay cash or whatever why they want. This reduces the site IMHO to a site that facilitates in initial contact and is never used after that anymore. Maybe as calendar if they have a real handy calendar function. Although it’s a good initiative from a social point of view, this way it lacks a good revenue model. Any opinions about this?
Security and ongoing control is the ongoing value-prop. The ongoing fee is worth it to the vulnerable and their families. Kudos, Chiara!
I think this is a very good idea.
Personal referrals are best, but they are not always easy to get.
Its an interesting thread to help elderly.