Startup’s app provides localized health-care info

SYRACUSE — Emergency room visits can be costly, even for people with good health insurance, says Michael Ehrhart, so it makes sense to use urgent care or even a pharmacy’s clinic if you can.

“The hospital doesn’t want you in the emergency room if you aren’t critically ill. You don’t want to be there because of the wait and cost. There are alternatives,” he says.

Helping patients find those alternatives was part of the motivation behind the creation of Welloh, a mobile app that provides information about hospitals, convenient care facilities, and pharmacies using a smartphone’s GPS-determined location.

“It’s kind of like Yelp for urgent care,” Ehrhart says.

Ehrhart and partner George Smith, II have decades of experience in the medical device field. Ehrhart was with Welch Allyn, as chief technology officer. Smith was in business development with Welch Allyn and also was an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s law school. They both worked at Hand Held Products, the medical device business sold to Honeywell in 2007.

In 2015, the two teamed up to create Watch Hill Solutions, a technology startup. The Welloh app is the company’s first product.

The app was launched in December 2017 and has been downloaded by hundreds of users from the Apple App Store and Google Play, Ehrhart says. 

Smith and Ehrhart say the app is being developed and improved as they see how people are actually using it. Noticing that users would download the app, but rarely turn to it, they added daily tips to give users a reason to engage the app, even if they didn’t need immediate medical care.

If they do, the app provides a list of hospitals, urgent care centers, and pharmacies within 33 miles.

Along with the address and a link to directions, each listing comes with a star rating.

At this point, those star ratings are based on public reviews found on Google. Smith and Ehrhart say they want to add feedback from Welloh users and eventually just depend on the app’s users for all ratings.

They also want to expand the types of facilities included in the app. Ehrhart explains that when patients see a doctor and is told to get a blood test, X-ray, or other follow-up work, they must decide where to go.

That’s a decision that used to be made for patients, he says. They’d go down the hall in the doctor’s office or maybe to a lab or imaging center the doctor recommended. Now the choice is theirs.

But, Ehrhart asks, how do patients know which lab or imaging center to use? It matters, he says, because the cost difference between a free-standing center and one that is part of a hospital can be a factor of 10.

Smith and Ehrhart say they would like to add out-patient surgery centers as well, giving consumers information they could use to choose between different centers and local hospitals that provide the same procedures.

Costs are more important than ever before for health-care consumers, Ehrhart says, because high-deductible health-insurance policies mean individuals are finding themselves responsible for paying the first part of many health-care bills. “Because of high-deductable plans we think people will be looking for options to keep out-of-pocket costs down,” he says.

But the target audience for Welloh isn’t just cost-conscious consumers. Travelers are a prime group for whom the app would be handy, Smith and Ehrhart say.

They picture someone visiting a new place suddenly finding themselves in need of medical attention. For them, the app with its ratings and directions would remove a lot of the mystery.

That opens a marketing opportunity for the app as well, the two say. Conventions, fairs and other large gatherings could recommend visitors download the app to make their visit less stressful. 

“Picture 40,000 bowlers with the app,” Smith says, referring to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) tournament being held in Syracuse this year.

Human-resource professionals could be helpful in making people aware of the app, the two men say. When employees need to make a health-care spending decision, HR people could suggest the app as a way to make the employees more aware of their choices.

Likewise, parents are a prime target, what with the number of scrapes, bruises and more serious injuries active children suffer. That doesn’t just apply to small children. Smith and Ehrhart say the app has found acceptance among college students.

As more people use the app and provide reviews of the providers they encounter, Smith expects the app to grow more useful. “A few million users and this is the health-care magazine. Welloh becomes kind of a trusted adviser,” he says.

Regarding trust, the two say the app shares only the user’s location, when it searches for information. All other information remains private, they say.

Ehrhart and Smith launched the app with help from angel investors, a Rochester firm called Scriptable Solutions that wrote the program, and online market research that showed interest in the information the app could provide.

The only income stream from Welloh at this point is advertising, though they may add a premium version in the future, they add.

Smith and Ehrhart are now focusing on getting more people to learn about Welloh, utilizing social media and online ads. Ehrhart says the goal is to reach 10,000 users by the end of the year and 5 million by the end of 2020.

Beyond that goal, Ehrhart says, “our big ambition is to help make patients more like consumers.”

SYRACUSE — Emergency room visits can be costly, even for people with good health insurance, says Michael Ehrhart, so it makes sense to use urgent care or even a pharmacy’s clinic if you can.

“The hospital doesn’t want you in the emergency room if you aren’t critically ill. You don’t want to be there because of the wait and cost. There are alternatives,” he says.

Helping patients find those alternatives was part of the motivation behind the creation of Welloh, a mobile app that provides information about hospitals, convenient care facilities, and pharmacies using a smartphone’s GPS-determined location.

“It’s kind of like Yelp for urgent care,” Ehrhart says.

Ehrhart and partner George Smith, II have decades of experience in the medical device field. Ehrhart was with Welch Allyn, as chief technology officer. Smith was in business development with Welch Allyn and also was an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s law school. They both worked at Hand Held Products, the medical device business sold to Honeywell in 2007.

In 2015, the two teamed up to create Watch Hill Solutions, a technology startup. The Welloh app is the company’s first product.

The app was launched in December 2017 and has been downloaded by hundreds of users from the Apple App Store and Google Play, Ehrhart says. 

Smith and Ehrhart say the app is being developed and improved as they see how people are actually using it. Noticing that users would download the app, but rarely turn to it, they added daily tips to give users a reason to engage the app, even if they didn’t need immediate medical care.

If they do, the app provides a list of hospitals, urgent care centers, and pharmacies within 33 miles.

Along with the address and a link to directions, each listing comes with a star rating.

At this point, those star ratings are based on public reviews found on Google. Smith and Ehrhart say they want to add feedback from Welloh users and eventually just depend on the app’s users for all ratings.

They also want to expand the types of facilities included in the app. Ehrhart explains that when patients see a doctor and is told to get a blood test, X-ray, or other follow-up work, they must decide where to go.

That’s a decision that used to be made for patients, he says. They’d go down the hall in the doctor’s office or maybe to a lab or imaging center the doctor recommended. Now the choice is theirs.

But, Ehrhart asks, how do patients know which lab or imaging center to use? It matters, he says, because the cost difference between a free-standing center and one that is part of a hospital can be a factor of 10.

Smith and Ehrhart say they would like to add out-patient surgery centers as well, giving consumers information they could use to choose between different centers and local hospitals that provide the same procedures.

Costs are more important than ever before for health-care consumers, Ehrhart says, because high-deductible health-insurance policies mean individuals are finding themselves responsible for paying the first part of many health-care bills. “Because of high-deductable plans we think people will be looking for options to keep out-of-pocket costs down,” he says.

But the target audience for Welloh isn’t just cost-conscious consumers. Travelers are a prime group for whom the app would be handy, Smith and Ehrhart say.

They picture someone visiting a new place suddenly finding themselves in need of medical attention. For them, the app with its ratings and directions would remove a lot of the mystery.

That opens a marketing opportunity for the app as well, the two say. Conventions, fairs and other large gatherings could recommend visitors download the app to make their visit less stressful. 

“Picture 40,000 bowlers with the app,” Smith says, referring to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) tournament being held in Syracuse this year.

Human-resource professionals could be helpful in making people aware of the app, the two men say. When employees need to make a health-care spending decision, HR people could suggest the app as a way to make the employees more aware of their choices.

Likewise, parents are a prime target, what with the number of scrapes, bruises and more serious injuries active children suffer. That doesn’t just apply to small children. Smith and Ehrhart say the app has found acceptance among college students.

As more people use the app and provide reviews of the providers they encounter, Smith expects the app to grow more useful. “A few million users and this is the health-care magazine. Welloh becomes kind of a trusted adviser,” he says.

Regarding trust, the two say the app shares only the user’s location, when it searches for information. All other information remains private, they say.

Ehrhart and Smith launched the app with help from angel investors, a Rochester firm called Scriptable Solutions that wrote the program, and online market research that showed interest in the information the app could provide.

The only income stream from Welloh at this point is advertising, though they may add a premium version in the future, they add.

Smith and Ehrhart are now focusing on getting more people to learn about Welloh, utilizing social media and online ads. Ehrhart says the goal is to reach 10,000 users by the end of the year and 5 million by the end of 2020.

Beyond that goal, Ehrhart says, “our big ambition is to help make patients more like consumers.”