“I am excited to share a major milestone – Canary Health is two-years old”

The Beginning

Taking you back to late spring 2015 and my poor planning to launch a new company as my wife is preparing to give birth to our second child.

Weather is a perfect 72 in Los Angeles as Neal, Paul and I harness decades of work and couple that with the energy, passion and commitment of a team of innovators and collaborators; we launch Canary Health with a mission to empower self-management.

Our Mission

Our all-hands meeting that day, Neal, his beard gray but surprisingly trimmed, asserts his, and our, deep belief in the power of individuals to direct their own health, and that through owning their own health journey, they’ll help drive healthcare that is high quality, low cost and empathetic.

Sitting at the old, rescued-from-a-garage, solid wood table that is our conference room table, I know the expanse of the work in front us, the challenge to move healthcare from something we do to people to something we do for them.

What We’ve Done

2-years later, I am so proud of all Canaries and our partners, and most importantly our participants, for the tremendous progress we’ve made towards that mission together:

Program Growth
We’ve empowered tens of thousands to improve their health. More than 50,000 participants have engaged in our programs! I remember the first time the Vimeo window opened and I saw Kelle tell her story.

Proven Results
Canary Health programs have proven their impact in rigorous studies. A wave of pride washed over me as I read Kate Lorig’s email detailing the results of a major trial of Better Choices, Better Health® and I still remember the appreciation I felt for the opportunity to work with Kate and her team as I read that paper published just last December. *Results included significant improvements in self-efficacy, depression, system navigation skills,medication adherence, and lowering of A1C. The positive economic results will be publish in the coming months.

Solving Problems
There are of course the days I remember not winning a contract, but far more often I remember that great feeling knowing we’re innovating to solve important client and participant problems. In particular, even as a new company, we receive validation  from our clients (e.g., OEBB and GEHA) for our approach providing a suite of solutions as they both purchase multiple Canary Health programs.

Collaborations
We have expanded the notion of healthcare as a team sport. Signing collaboration agreements, while challenging, is just a first step.  From our first all-day strategy and training session our deep collaboration with Medtronic demonstrates the value of partnership .  We just announced our first joint Canadian client, Bruyère Continuing Care and Canary Health are making significant progress in changing approaches to value-based care.

The Team
Our team, while still containing many of those original members, has grown to over 125 Canaries.  We’ve been fortunate to raise capital from tremendous partners to fund our growth.  We recently launched a completely rebuilt, mobile-first, version of the Better Choices Better Health program.  We’re investing deeply to better understand the power of narrative and story-telling to engage and open that space for individuals to feel the impact of self-management.

Our Future

Thanks to all of you who are on this journey with us!

I did not imagine that day around our conference room table how fast the industry would evolve and how clearly our work is needed.  I am so proud of that work we’ve done and the industry leader we’ve become.  That old wood conference table has given way to underlit smoky glass that can double as a whiteboard.  Our impact has grown AND we’re only more committed to that mission Neal so simple laid out 2-years ago; Empower people to own their health for the life they want!

Here’s to a great second half of the year and to celebrating more anniversaries together.

*STUDY UPDATES

For the third study done which shows the decreased utilization and cost-savings outcomes for the same program based on a 12 month study, click here.