04 Feb Wheelhouse: A New Oncomanagement Startup, Offers Patient-Centric Cancer Care Support to Employers
February 4, 2022
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — With US cancer care spending exceeding $200B in 2021, cancer providers and payors are scrambling to find ways to bend the cost curve, while at the same time cancer outcomes and patient experience are under comparable scrutiny.
“Patients shouldn’t be left to wonder where to go when they are given a cancer diagnosis. People working in the oncology industry receive calls every day from friends and family asking for help navigating our bureaucratic and cumbersome cancer care system. Who do patients call when they do not have that friend or family member? Now they can call Wheelhouse.”
– Eugene Huang, M.D., Radiation Oncologist
Wheelhouse is a new industry solution that aims to improve patient outcomes, increase patient satisfaction, and simultaneously reduce costs in the cancer care ecosystem. Backed by oncology industry leaders such as Nashville-based Radiation Business Solutions as well as Apollo Healthcare founder and CEO Ben Frank., the Wheelhouse founders currently impact over 30,000 cancer patients’ lives every year.
Wheelhouse partners with Employers and Benefits Plans across the United States to bring value-based care navigation and cancer prevention programs directly to managed populations. In a world running headfirst into capitated, “subscription-based” healthcare, Wheelhouse is taking a unique approach and decentralizing cancer prevention, patient support, and navigation. Wheelhouse’s team aims to be agnostic to providers, health systems, or payors and navigate patients to the best – objectively measured – care, while also providing person-to-person support throughout the cancer journey and later through long-term survivorship.
Wheelhouse’s physician leadership will work hand-in-hand with physician groups in communities with Wheelhouse-managed populations to formulate care standards and pathways based on national cancer care guidelines from the NCCN. Patients will also have access to Cancer Coaching, Oncology Nurse Navigation, Care Coordination, Benefits Advisory, and Palliative Care consultations. Wheelhouse’s care team aims to rapidly accelerate the adoption of multidisciplinary care in the community setting, serving as the missing link between disconnected providers and health systems.
“Wheelhouse has been a long time coming,” says Wheelhouse CEO, Ben Frank. “We have been working in this industry for almost 20 years, helping patients deal with loopholes, paperwork, outdated policies, evolving care standards, and disparate provider systems. We’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and now we’ve formalized that into a new company aimed at revolutionizing the entire cancer care process. We’re partnering with employers because we believe they have a unique relationship with the patient that is both professional and personal, something that is rarely experienced in the provider or payor realm. At the end of the day, we are genuinely passionate about improving cancer patients’ lives, and that’s what we plan to do with Wheelhouse.”
Wheelhouse also aims to step up the implementation of a newer concept in the oncology care continuum. Cancer Coaching is a unique approach to managing the emotional and personal impact cancer has on a patient. Coaches are typically cancer survivors, caregivers, or clinicians and use evidence-based methods to strengthen the emotional wellbeing of each patient throughout their cancer journey. Working with a Cancer Coach is proven to reduce unexpected sick days and improve overall work-life impact during a cancer diagnosis.
COO of Wheelhouse, Sally Eggleston further explains, “My entire career has been devoted to providing cancer care services as a clinician, business owner, and executive; and then I was diagnosed with cancer. I was fortunate that I knew how to navigate the health care system and I also had a clinical background, so I knew cancer and cancer treatment. What I didn’t know was the emotional impact that cancer has on a person’s personal and professional life. Seeking a way to further assist cancer patients with this emotional journey is when I found cancer coaching. Then it became apparent; this package of navigation and cancer coaching had to become a reality for as many cancer patients as we could possibly reach.”
Wheelhouse is planning to grow its managed population to more than 100,000 lives in the next 12 months.
Wheelhouse is an Oncomanagement platform for employers with sponsored health plans that is designed to improve cancer outcomes, improve patient experience, and reduce overall cancer care costs. Wheelhouse is based in Nashville, TN with remote teams working in Florida, Oklahoma, Illinois, Washington, Michigan, and Alaska. More information can be found at www.wheelhousecares.com
Radiation Business Solutions provides billing, practice management, and consulting services to oncology practices around the country, and also owns and operates cancer centers in rural, underserved areas of the U.S. They serve over 200 oncology physicians and over 2,700 cancer patients per day. More information can be found at www.radiationbusiness.com
Apollo Healthcare specializes in patient advocacy for advanced treatment options. Providers and patients trust Apollo to fill the void and bring clear clinical justification to the decision table when payor medical policy lags current research and FDA regulation. Apollo leverages clinical expertise and regulatory understanding of the prior authorization process to overturn wrongful denials throughout the oncology system. Apollo Healthcare is based in Nashville, TN with team members in Houston, TX, and Knoxville, TN. More information can be found at www.apollohealthcare.com
Contacts
Wheelhouse Public Relations
803-727-3728