Prior to COVID-19 bringing attention to the value of telehealth, HeraMED (ASX: HMD) has been building digital infrastructure to revolutionise the maternal healthcare market with their screening and remote midwife platform which is preparing to now enter the lucrative U.S market.
The expansion into the world’s most lucrative healthcare market, valued at USD $111 billion annually, will be driven by healthcare expert and newly appointed US General Manager of Operations, Alexander Radke whose initial goal is to penetrate the market where there are more than 3.75 million births each year.
“First and foremost, we have to work alongside the leading hospitals and doctors to further clinically validate our care model and gain provider buy-in,” said Radke.
“Our model is a completely novel and innovative way to engage patients across a variety of situations. We do not want to compete against the existing care delivery system, but rather supplement and enhance the doctor’s ability to care for their patients.
“This step is absolutely crucial when initially entering the US market, in order to open up various market pathways and ensure long-term commercial success.”
Despite being one of the most developed nations in the world when it comes to healthcare, the U.S unfortunately also records the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world with 26.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Contributing to this is the cost of private healthcare where out-of-pocket payment for families of well over US$3,000 per pregnancy. Beyond this HeraMED has identified a national deficiency in obstetricians and gynaecologists, estimating a shortage of 8,800 of the key practitioners and 5 million expectant mothers who live in areas without access to an OB-GYN.
As a direct result of pressure put on health systems around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare regulators have prioritised products, in particular telehealth, which can alleviate some of that pressure for non-coronavirus related conditions.
Specifically in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted leeway to companies to expand distribution of products cleared for use in hospitals to also be used in patients’ homes.
Already with FDA clearance for professional use, HeraCARE offers a fully integrated maternal health ecosystem designed to ensure expectant mothers are engaged remotely, informed and well-supported, allow healthcare professionals to provide the highest quality care and enable early detection and prevention of potential risks. It does this by monitoring key vital signs including blood pressure, weight and fetal heart rates with information accessible remotely by a professional healthcare worker who can advise on risk levels.
For their initial phase of marketing in the United States, HeraMED will leverage results and findings from ongoing testing and pilots to target healthcare providers including hospitals and doctors. This will be funded by $1.42 million raised by the Company in December 2019 via private Placement to expedite the U.S expansion strategy.
Alfred Chan is a Business Reporter at The Sentiment specialising in ASX-listed small cap companies, a bloodstock enthusiast and former equities analyst.
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