Submission

Over $240 billion dollars is lost each year in the US because coordinating care is "too difficult" to figure out in the middle of an emergency. One glaring driver is that it is incredibly difficult to find your healthcare provider (read: "have you tried navigating your health insurance recently?")  In fact, our own studies have found that it takes a minimum of 8-12 minutes to find an in-network urgent care in DC, though most of our interviews indicated spending upwards of 3 hours researching their outpatient care visits. This time luxury doesn't exist in an emergency and patients too often default to going to the emergency room. This is one of the highest cost drivers for our health system, and when individuals aren't even able to get the emergency care they need, lives are lost and the public and private infrastructure has failed. We need a better way to ensure that our system doesn't fail to deliver safety to all of our residents.

We have designed the Haven "Self Action For Everyone" (S.A.F.E.) smart emergency card. It is an IoT card that fits in a purse or wallet and allows the owner to trigger emergency care with a single button press. Our S.A.F.E. card offers 3 modes: 1. trigger an emergency request for an ambulance, 2. notify emergency contacts with real-time updates, and 3. request care guidance recommendations on your phone. This provides 3 layers of citizen empowerment in managing their care-- while guiding them to the most appropriate care setting (ED for an emergency) or the most cost-effective care (in-network Urgent Care for non-critical immediate care). 

Most importantly, we have transformed the complicated (and frequently inequal) care navigation process into a simple, affordable, and equitable approach. Three emergency buttons in the hands of every citizen, with no special training required.

Haven will close 3 specific gaps that are known in our healthcare system:

1. The total cost of care is reduced substantially. Proper care routing can save up to $8,000 per avoided ER visit, and directing residents to their in-network care providers drive average discounts of 30%. Just for our DC Health Link population and Medicaid populations, this could translate to savings of $6M per year.
2. Access to care becomes equal. A single unified "user experience" regardless of whether you receive your healthcare through work, buy it yourself, Medicaid, Medicare, or uninsured. This reduces systemic barriers to care (e.g. workplace benefits trainings, proximity challenges, etc.)
3. Residents feel safe and empowered to handle their own care. To build the DC of the future, it is critical not only that residents are safe, but that they feel empowered to take control of an emergency situation.

Our plan supports the office of the mayor and the city of DC in delivering on providing 21st century care.

Our product showcases 5G advanced networking technologies through next-generation Internet of Things delivery. Specifically:

1. 5G networks will support "massive IoT" scale needed to deliver this type of low-energy device in the pocket of each of DC's 700K residents (and additional commuters). The proposed standard supports nearly ~ 2.5M low-energy IoT devices per square mile, a factor of 200X over current network technologies.
2. The low-latency and high-reliability of the 5G networks will enable a product that can be used reliably in emergency contexts. An advantage over current "tethered" approaches (i.e. Bluetooth Low Energy) is the zero-configuration needed to communicate with the network: this means that our solution will overcome access equality issues (a universal card that all residents can use without configuration vs. a bespoke solution offered by a specific insurer) and also logistical outreach issues (no training needed to use the card)
3. The low-energy standard (and anticipated price points) allow for this form factor to exist as an afford "slim card" that every resident can take with them everywhere.

Additional 5G "gigabit" capabilities can be incorporated into our solution as we grow and evolve; however we chose to focus on the most accessible and affordable solution that could bring the biggest change to the largest number of DC residents.