Filament Labs takes $1M to build its patient aftercare 'nagging' platform

You’ve probably had some kind of medical treatment where the doctor gave you a list of things to do every day while your body healed. Doctors usually give instructions like this to you in a handful of mimeographed papers, which are often lost or thrown away.

It’s a big issue for doctors, because when patients don’t follow aftercare instructions, they can end up with complications. This can lead to more office visits, which costs managed care doctors money. If only there were an app that let your doctor remind you to follow the instructions.

Enter Filament Labs. The company’s Patient IO product lets doctors and other caregivers develop detailed aftercare plans at their desktop and then shoot them out to an app on their patients’ phones. The aftercare plan can include daily tasks, reminders, and educational materials.

Austin-based Filament Labs said Thursday it’s taken $1 million of investment money to further develop Patient IO. The round was led by Houston-based early-stage startup investor Mercury Fund, with participation from current Patient IO customers Corinthian Health Services and Arcadia Home Care. The round also included money from 17 angel investors. Filament had already taken $160,000 in an earlier seed round.

Filament CEO Jason Bornhorst says his company will use the funding to hire more engineers and to extend Patient IO to more mobile devices.

“Today, Patient IO supports mobile delivery of care plans via beautiful iOS and Android apps, but we recognize that not every patient has a smart device.” Bornhorst said in a blog post. “With today’s funding, we’re expanding support to mobile-web and email.”

The company also wants to build a standards-based API that will help Patient IO interface with more healthcare provider computer systems.