Seattle-area well being startup One Merchandise expands CDC-backed coronary heart research – GeekWire

Seattle-area firm One Item is working with the College of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to assist a research of a rural group in Arkansas vulnerable to poor coronary heart well being.

The UAMS Coronary heart Wholesome Communities initiative goals to scale back well being final result inequality in rural Arkansas by way of finding out a goal inhabitants with traditionally poor well being outcomes. The app is utilized in mixture with different efforts, equivalent to linking folks with social providers and medical suppliers.

Based in 2016, One Merchandise has been working with UAMS for about two years and recently announced that the research has expanded to enroll extra folks, aiming for greater than 200 topics.

The startup’s Well being Science Index app is a cornerstone of the research, mentioned principal investigator Irion Pursell, director of heart problems major prevention at UAMS. The app helps individuals prioritize areas for enchancment of their well being and life-style.

“Bettering high quality and length of life begins with a consumer’s willingness to incorporate wellness-seeking behaviors of their day by day routine,” Pursell informed GeekWire. “The app facilitates wellness by prioritizing particular areas for motion and offering content material on specific actions a consumer can embrace of their day by day routine.”

The app identifies key focus areas by way of a survey that asks questions on train, sleep, water consumption, diet and different elements. One Merchandise offers day by day reminders about focus areas, allows connections with pals on the app, and hyperlinks to instructional supplies. The app additionally scores customers on their progress and offers a dashboard to assist them monitor it.

The app may also be used to assist determine folks vulnerable to untimely loss of life within the research inhabitants.

The research is funded by the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management, which has proven curiosity in probably increasing using the app to different counties if the UAMS initiative exhibits a profit, mentioned Pursell.

One Merchandise is led by CEO and co-founder Erik Knutsen, who was beforehand CEO of Bellevue, Wash.-based enterprise consulting providers firm Design Laboratory, and is a former senior challenge supervisor at Microsoft. The corporate’s co-founder and CTO is Brian Williams, former CEO of California Imaginative and prescient who is predicated in San Diego.

The corporate additionally presents a consumer-facing model of the app, referred to as “Higher Now” which can be utilized to assist folks determine and enhance key focus areas in numerous sides of life, equivalent to health and wellness, wellbeing and happiness, and relationships.