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Getting Your Game to Players: Keela Robison, VP of GameHouse Distributions (Part 1)

Keela Robison is the VP of GameHouse and is responsible for distribution and storefront businesses at the company. GameHouse is a division of Networks and operates leading PC casual games app stores, including GameHouse.com, Zylom, and Atrativa. GameHouse also markets and distributes multimillion-dollar casual game franchises in all the leading mobile app stores, including Google Play, iTunes, Amazon, and carrier app stores.

Sramana: Keela, let’s start with a bit of background on GameHouse. How would you introduce GameHouse to our audience?

Keela Robison: GameHouse is a company that has been around in the casual game space for over 10 years. We started out distributing PC downloadable games. We distributed games as a third-party title, and we also created games in-house as a studio. That business continues today. We have three different PC website portals. The largest is GameHouse.com, which is focused on North America. We also have Zylom.com, which has a collection of European sites. We also have Atrativa, which is focused on Latin America with an emphasis on Brazil. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 7)

Sramana: Who was your first customer?

Ido Schoenberg: Our first client was Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii, followed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. Since then we have added a significant number of payers. If you look at the number of lives our systems cover today, you will find that number hits the hundreds of millions.

We also have a very strong leg on the provider side. We have a growing number of delivery networks like the Carolinas HealthCare System, General Hospital in Boston, and other providers. They are using our platform to interact more conveniently with their own patients as well to reach out to other patients who are reaching out to them. That aligns with our vision of being a communication tool between supply and demand. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 6)

Sramana: Among the benefits you are bringing to the space is the ability to become a bridge to the EMR systems.

Ido Schoenberg: EMR is very important, and that is an example of one area where we do highly integrated with a backbone facility. If you are a WellPoint member, you want to make sure that when you get teleservices, you don’t have to pay a full payment. That sounds like an easy thing, but it is very complicated.

Sramana: I don’t doubt it. It seems there are two bridges that you are providing, and both of them are complicated and incredibly important. One is the bridge into the EMR systems of the medical institution, and the other is the bridge to the payment systems of the insurance companies.

Ido Schoenberg: What we need to do is make an encounter as informed, specific and personal as possible. You could argue that it would be possible to Skype with your doctor or have a telephone conversation with your doctor. If you did that, however, the physician would be divorced from all of the background data to truly help that patient. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 5)

Sramana: Are you trying to compete with the existing healthcare network and provide a more efficient means of delivery?

Ido Schoenberg: The last thing in the world we want to do is compete with the existing delivery network. The important distinction between us and many of our competitors is that we believe the existing system is the right system. We do not want to replace your relationship with your doctor. We are trying to provide tools for you to connect to your doctor while you are at home or when the doctor is not in the office. This provides continuity of care and allows your physician to continually manage your care. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 4)

Sramana: When did you establish American Well?

Ido Schoenberg: American Well was founded 7 years ago.

Sramana: What was the market situation like, and what gaps did you identify to start American Well?

Ido Schoenberg: After Roy and I sold CareKey, we knew we wanted to do something else. This time we looked for a problem and started there. We wrote down all of the challenges in healthcare IT that required solutions, and we tried to rank those problems. When it was all said and done, it was apparent that the biggest challenge was quality, affordable care. It takes too long and costs too much for a patient to see a doctor. It is a tremendous hassle.

We tried to think about ways to fix this dilemma. When we looked at the healthcare system, we realized the entire system was based on destinations. When you go to a hospital, you will see that it is location based. When an institution is built, you have to pay for it. Those dynamics have not changed for thousands of years. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 3)

Sramana: You have described several different progression points in healthcare IT. Have you seen multiple companies created in the marketplace to address each point?

Ido Schoenberg: Some aspects of it, such as EMR [electronic medical records], spawned an entire industry, with multiple businesses competing. In other spaces there were niche players like iMDSoft. Healthcare IT continued to move forward, and that is one of the reasons I founded CareKey. I realized that while you can automate an ICU, the patient does not stay there [very] long. That patient has a life before they come to the hospital as well as after they are discharged. I was looking for a way to help healthcare providers manage patients outside [in] their daily lives. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 2)

Sramana: You have been immersed in the healthcare IT space since 1996. Could you give me an overview of the major trends and evolutions you have witnessed in that industry? What is your analysis of the progression of the industry leading up to this point?

Ido Schoenberg: It has been a fascinating journey to say the least and I think my journey has mimicked the progression of the industry. It has been very clear to me since medical school that the healthcare system is incredibly broken. There is a tremendous amount of inefficiency. When I started out in this space medical offices worked off of pen and paper. Documentation was really the first focus area for a lot of these companies. At iMDSoft we focused on intensive care units where it was very clear that every patient had a large flow sheet with millions of potential data points. There was simple no way for the staff to interpret all of the data points correctly and analyze the trends in real time. >>>

Solving Problems in Healthcare IT for Two Decades: Serial Entrepreneur and American Well CEO Ido Schoenberg (Part 1)

Ido Schoenberg is the chairman and CEO of American Well Corporation, a provider of online healthcare and telehealth visits. Ido has a lengthy track record of successfully leading technology companies in the healthcare field. In 1996, together with Phyllis Gotlib, he co-founded iMDSoft, a provider of enterprise software that automates hospital critical care units. He grew the company into a market leader with a multinational install base in the U.S., Europe, and East Asia. In 2001, Ido joined CareKey Inc. as chief executive officer and took the company through its acquisition by the TriZetto group. Ido served as TriZetto’s chief business strategy officer until his departure in the summer of 2006. Ido continues to serve as the chairman of iMDSoft’s scientific advisory board. He received his MD from the Sackler School of Medicine.

Sramana: Ido, let’s start by reviewing a little bit of your background.

Ido Schoenberg: I was born in Israel. I am a serial entrepreneur in the healthcare space having started four companies to date. The first company I started was iMDSoft, which I founded with Phyllis Gotlib, my wife. We sold that company about a year ago. >>>