1) Tell us about your background and how you started Handl.
My family and I immigrated to New Zealand from the Middle East when I was a kid. I grew up in a household of pharmacists, and ended up studying pharmacy and practicing clinically for about four years before going to business school for a post-grad diploma in health management. I spent 10 years as a digital health consultant at Ernst & Young, where I helped healthcare systems and payers across the US, UK and New Zealand build new digital businesses and products. When I came to the US, I was surprised and confused to see (a) how expensive healthcare is, and (b) how involved my employer was in my healthcare experience. I began to think, “why is a big-5 consulting firm managing my health benefits?” It wasn’t until after I received a surprise medical bill for my first doctor’s appointment in the US, and had to call my employer who was equally clueless, that I decided I wanted to do something about this issue. I chatted with my colleague and friend, Ria, about this idea and we quickly got the ball rolling with Handl. About a year later we brought on our third co-founder and CTO Karthik, and the rest is history.
2) What are the key problems Handl is addressing?
It’s no secret that healthcare costs are rising at exorbitant rates, and there’s hardly any transparency into what healthcare actually costs. This presents challenges to people accessing care, as well as the employers and benefits brokers that put together health benefits packages for them. But how are employers and benefits brokers supposed to design the best health plans for employees if they don’t have the right tools and information to do so? To make these decisions today, brokers are heavily reliant on historical information such as claims and quotes from insurance carriers, which are presented via a “discount” that’s designed to highlight the relative cost effectiveness of the insurance carrier’s network vs. its competitors. The problem is, this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison because each “discount” could be calculated with a different denominator that the brokers aren’t privy to. The entire process is complex and heavily manual today. At Handl Health, we use exact prices to calculate and forecast healthcare spend for employers and employees across insurance carriers and healthcare providers. We have software that supports employers and brokers in designing effective health plans, and technology that allows employees to estimate and compare costs to make more informed decisions about where to receive healthcare.
3) What have you enjoyed or what do you look forward to about working with Tau Ventures?
We’re thrilled to be working with Tau Ventures. Amit, Sanjay and Sonal are extremely approachable, inquisitive and eager to help with any challenge or question we have. They’ve built an incredible community of entrepreneurs and health tech leaders that we’re excited to tap into next year as we continue to build our product and scale. As early believers in the benefits of AI in healthcare, we’re excited to learn from the Tau Ventures team and include the latest in AI technology within our products.
