Meet Kith + Kin, a digital healthcare admin tool in the growing ‘caretech’ industry

Existing platforms might keep your electronic health records in one place or help you communicate with a doctor’s office, but nothing really brought everything together in the way that a classic three-ring binder would, Jill Michal told Technical.ly.

As the holder of this information in her own household, Michal began talking with others looking for a solution and companies that have tried to build something similar. It became clear: She and other women often bear the physical, emotional and administrative burden of managing healthcare for their families.

Phoenixville-based Michal, who has previously been a top executive of Independence Blue Cross and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, began work nearly three years ago on a digital solution to this problem.

Michal and cofounding CTO Mike Mangos built a prototype in 2020, then an MVP late last year. In September 2022, they launched Kith + Kin, a platform meant to serve as a digital management solution for everything relating to storing and sharing healthcare info. It’s built as a progressive web app, designed to be mobile friendly but “not mobile first,” Michal said.

The startup’s name is an homage to an old fashioned term for friends and family. About 80% of the platform’s target users are women, Michal said, as they run point of care in most family units.

The Kith + Kin platform. (Courtesy image)

“They are the kin keepers, as we hear it,” she said, “playing air traffic control for appointments and information. They’re frustrated, isolated and overwhelmed.”

Inside the platform, a user can create profiles for different family members that stores documents like electronic health records, insurance cards and tests results. The platform also allows a user to add photos and notes to personalize and keep track of the conversations they may have with their doctor.

A key part of the business model is its shareability, Michal said — maybe you and your adult sibling are managing care of your aging parent, and both want access to documents and instructions from their doctor. The Kith + Kin platform allows for you to share just that profile with your sibling, while keeping other profiles, like a spouse or child, private.

Since rolling out to the public in September, the platform has amassed about 1,000 signups, and the team is currently piloting a free version as they collect more insights. Kith + Kin is currently operating in a B2C marketplace, but Michal said she sees a future where it’s B2B2C. In 2023, the team of six will be introducing some new features and a paid model. That team as of now comprises of the two local cofounders and a distributed team of a UX design pro, business development pro, analytics pro and marketing pro.

A focus on adherence, or getting patients to follow doctor’s orders, will come next year with some task management tools. The team will construct a way to farm out tasks around healthcare management, Michal said — “like an electronic version of the nagging of everything that needs to be done.”

When the company does roll out a paid model, Kith + Kin will cost $24 a year. More paid features include building in an API interface that would allow third parties to push information through, like notes from a doctor’s visit, that would help with handling the administrative load. The company has raised $1.3 million to date, including a friends and family round, according to Michal.

The cofounder sees Kith + Kin as a growing part of what she calls the “caretech” and “familytech” industry: She aims for the platform to aid in the administrative burden that exists in managing care in a family unit.

“It’s about starting to realize the fragile nature of this infrastructure, and what fills the cracks,” Michal said. “The family and friends structure, those people who are filling those gaps, they also need technology.”