Gentreo

Gentreo is working to create a more inclusive workplace using technology to support workers who are caregivers by allowing them to create the documents they need for caring, save and share those documents with friends and family and other critical information and always have instant access to any or all with just a few clicks.  This saves time and days off, while reducing stress.

In 2020 per the AARP, more than 1 in 5 Americans (21.3 percent) are caregivers, having provided care to an adult or child with special needs at some time in the past 12 months. This totals an estimated 53.0 million adults in the United States, up from the estimated 43.5 million caregivers in 2015. Per the Rosalynn Carter Institute, caregiving employees comprise a large portion of the US workforce: An estimated 18 to 22% of the US labor force is comprised of family caregivers. The majority of those caregivers today are women.

Unfortunately, caregivers have been slow to adopt caregiving technology which could provide a huge support system across the United States.  

The AARP notes that “caregivers are comfortable with technology, albeit with differences across age groups. Across all four technologies about which they were asked, caregivers younger than age 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to say they are extremely or very comfortable with them. Additionally, caregivers 50–64 are more likely than those age 65 or older to note similar high comfort levels with the technologies.

When caring for a loved one, advanced planning is key states CareForth, “this holds especially true when medical needs become complex to the point where the person you care for is incapable of taking care of him or herself. A healthcare proxy is the legal document designed for situations where a person becomes incapacitated due to illness or injury.”

Yet, one of the most glaring missing pieces of needed in caregiving technology is a health care proxy. According to HealthAffairs, 36.7 percent had completed an advance directive, including 29.3 percent with living wills. Similar proportions of patients with chronic illnesses (38.2 percent) and healthy adults (32.7 percent) had completed advance directives.

HealthAffairs noted that,” The findings provide benchmarks for gauging future policies and practices designed to motivate completion of advance directives, particularly among those people most likely to benefit from having these documents on record.”

This is where Gentreo comes in. Caregivers are often left guessing what someone they are caring for wants and tough decisions wreak havoc on emotions.  Having a health care proxy for someone one is caring for relieves stress greatly. 

Gentreo is on a mission to help all prepare, plan and protect their decisions. There needs to be a better way to get caregivers the documents they need to be able to provide the care they are being asked to provide. Technology and the solution Gentreo wants to provide through a digital app can help save these workers time and money, while relieving stress.  

Gentreo provides the essential tools starting with digital, instant access to create and access a health care proxy and other documents and save information and share with friends and family.

Today, Gentreo provides families and caregivers with easy-to-use, guided software to help everyone learn about, create, complete, and store state-specific estate planning and related documents. Specifically, Gentreo provides tools to create and educate the US population about the need for documents such as wills, powers of attorney, health care proxies, trusts and more. 

Gentreo offers educational material as well including videos, blogs, webinars, checklists and a free estate planning book.  Gentreo’s tools enable caregivers to produce comprehensive estate plans for those they are caring for who have legal capacity. 

Gentreo also gives users the Gentreo Digital Vault (which has bank level security) to save and selectively share critical information and documents so everyone knows where to turn to in the event of an emergency or when documents are needed.  Gentreo walks users through common information and documents to save and share with family and friends. The Gentreo Digital Family Vault enables users to keep documents and information constantly updated and accessible in just a few clicks. Gentreo makes creating estate plans and preparing families for life’s events easy, fast, and affordable so that everyone can create a plan that protects their wishes and families. 

We will use the base Gentreo software and functionality to build a mobile application that serves diverse populations and those with varying knowledge and experience.  We will focus on the health care proxy creation and access. To this mobile application we will add 1) Training modules regarding care situations, documents, state laws, 2)  Gentreo existing functionality such as unique, personalized document creation and/or connectivity such as connections the Gentreo Digital Family Vault, 3) an enhanced version of Gentreo that addresses customizable caregiver education and emotional support through content such as videos, checklists, and access to live coaching support for the caregiver 4) the Gentreo Instant Access feature so that when emergencies happen, as they will, caregivers can hit a button to access their stored medical information, doctor information and estate planning documents and share a link with whomever they choose, 5) measurements for progress in completing tasks such as documents and training so users can feel a sense of accomplishment and content can progress with caregivers as conditions progress.  We will develop, pilot-test, and validate this application with existing Gentreo clients as well as those that we are adding every day. Here is a video about Gentreo and health care proxies which you can see at youtube.com/watch?v=1vA2Z6dzh-4

Gentreo was created for all the working people caring for their families.  It is an incredibly diverse group of people, from age, gender, location and more. “Gentreo” for us means three generations because so many Americans are caring for aging parents and children as well as ourselves.  

Gentreo is next generation estate and life planning built around helping the family support each other no matter where they are.  Based on surveys we have done and interviews, we learned that what is critical to caregivers is not just creating documents, but using them. Caregivers need instant access to important documents and need to be able to share those documents and good information and facts with families. 

We help educate caregivers about estate planning, make it easy for them to create documents for those they are caring for and make important information easily available so they can protect what they love as life happens and are prepared in an emergency. We track what educational materials are used and how often.

Employers are now providing Gentreo to their employees to help them care for their families.  From phone calls to emails and the need to leave work to help family members find information and documents, family caregivers are constantly asked for help beyond just providing in person care.  

We will tap the employee groups that we work with to provide feedback as to what they need in an app, what they would use and how they would use it. We will tap 500 individuals at a minimum to study in filling out a survey about needs, focusing on the health care proxy and digital access.  We would then use these responders to test our application and provide feedback as to use cases, need for improvement, likes and dislikes.

For the one in five workers now providing care for someone, having an app where they can click a button to get their loved one's documents and important information can be huge step forward in knowing they are protecting who they love, while saving time and money.  Gentreo gives workers time back while relieving fear with education and tools.

Gentreo was founded by three women who have lived caring for aging parents. We met while all of us lived in either Quincy or Weymouth, MA. Renee and Julie Fry lived caring for their father with Alzheimer's and wanted to change the world for all other caregivers to make it easier. Before Julie and Renee’s father passed away, he had multiple ministrokes (TIAs) and strokes, a heart attack and suffered from Alzheimer’s.  

Dad’s first stroke occurred when we were in California working. Mom called and used that “I’m-trying-to-be-calm-but really-am-not” voice that she only used when majorly bad things happen. She very calmly told us that while they were visiting Philadelphia, a few hours away from their home, dad had a stroke. Our Aunt (who is a physician’s assistant), was able to recognize the signs and immediately stepped into action. When they got to the hospital, they started the stroke protocol, but the doctor was convinced that he wouldn’t make it through. The doctor asked for our father’s heath care proxy.  We couldn’t find it.

That entire day we were in a mad scramble to find his insurance cards, his doctor’s contact information, his prescription regimen and more. It was awful. Mom would run in between the emergency room and his doctors and the hallway to call us. Mom had a lot of information in her head and cell phone, but it took us a long time to find information and the doctors had to proceed without knowing everything about his healthcare history.  

That incident started us on our path to creating Gentreo.  We wanted everyone to have access to the documents and tools they need to care for loved ones. We’ve studied the market extensively and learned that most people think they can’t afford estate planning or it is too complicated even when forms are free at the doctor’s office. It just isn’t easy and not made for how life works today. Our user interviews told us it had to be easy to understand. It has to be affordable. It has to be accessible by phone so we can all use the tool. 

Gentreo partners with companies like Compass Working Capital a nonprofit financial services organization in Boston, MA that supports families with low incomes to build assets and financial capabilities.  We have learned a great deal from our customers here and what they need to be able to not only fill out a form but use that form for those they are caring for which is the step that helps them save time and money.  We routinely check in with their team to see if our educational materials are helping, if customers are using our product and get suggestions on how to engage more. We routinely work with HR professionals to provide feedback on who is using Gentreo, what might increase users and what issues they are seeing with caregiving in the workplace as well.

Gentreo currently works with many partner companies as a B2B2C solution, representing thousands and thousands of users, located across the United States and is a nationally recognized and award winning solution.  

In addition to funding to help us build our application, Gentreo is looking to expand our network of partners across industries and sectors with which we partner to deliver our solutions. We are very interested in help with finding organizations that would help us build an application that could be used to help so many caregivers with documents like a health care proxy.

 As female founders, we are also looking forward to belonging to a peer-to-peer network that we can rely on for support as we build Gentreo.  The current economy presents unique challenges and having extra support can help us succeed as a women led business that can help so many.

Renee Fry recently put together a Harvard Business School of Boston Alumni event called Our Aging Market attended by almost 150.  The event brought together leadership from across the United States to talk about what we all need to do to help caregivers as well as the aging themselves.  

Gentreo is also part of Qubic Labs in Quincy, MA which is in an economic recovery zone.  Renee routinely helps companies within Qubic given her experience having started companies and run them in the past.  

Renee is a judge for the Harvard Business School New Venture Contest and helps entrepreneurs turn their ideas into businesses.

Gentreo meets users where they are in their life- in this case working caregivers.  Gentreo does not expect users to know what they need or what the person they are caring for needs like a health care proxy or a will.  This is completely game changing as people now understand what choices they are making and have the ability to affordably make those choices and change them whenever needed.

People know what they are going through, good or bad.  They don't wake up thinking, "I am getting that health care proxy done today."  Caregivers in the workforce especially wake up wondering how they are going to balance everything and what if today is the day something bad is going to happen.

Our sharing features as well as our Instant Access Button and annual review are all tools to help caregivers get help when they need it.  All of this is now affordable and easy to use.  

We are hoping that hospitals and doctors can start approaching health care proxies from this perspective. Instead of having patients fill out a form that they don't think about again and don't tell the people they have chosen to be their health care proxies, we can change this to make sure everyone is involved.  When a caregiver is at work, they need to know the right documents and information they need to provide care to a loved one is just a few clicks away.  

This is how the market needs to work as it is how consumers act today.  We must meet them where they are and provide tools to help make care easier.

Gentreo is on a mission to help 1,000,000 people in the next year and 10,000,000 people protect all they love with Gentreo through our life and estate planning tools by making them affordable and easy to use.

Gentreo will continue to educate everyone on the importance of estate planning, while meeting them where they are in their life. Many may not be aware of the importance of estate planning or may not have the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. By educating them, Gentreo can help empower them to make choices for their families. Gentreo this year will do at least one free webinar per month and put up at least 20 new blogs or videos each month to help educate everyone.  In five years, Gentreo will do at least five free webinars each month and put up at least 25 new blogs or videos each month to help educate all.

Gentreo will create a positive external impact, while growing our solution, through partnerships by partnering with organizations that support family caregivers.  Gentreo will create at least one partnership with a non-profit or a low-income based service provider in each of the fifty states to do this by year five and by year one will have 5 new partnerships. 

As related to the goals above:

1. We count the number of users and people invited to view and share information with those registered (see the 10,000,000 people goal above)

2. As noted above, we will measure activity provided. From above, "Gentreo this year will do at least one free webinar per month and put up at least 20 new blogs or videos each month to help educate everyone.  In five years, Gentreo will do at least five free webinars each month and put up at least 25 new blogs or videos each month to help educate all."

2. We will track our partnerships and where those partnerships are located as noted above, "Gentreo will create at least one partnership with a non-profit or a low-income based service provider in each of the fifty states to do this by year five and by year one will have 5 new partnerships." 

Our desire to improve health care proxies use by caregivers and care recipients is based on the fact that new technologies exist now that can improve adoption and use.  Tests from 1998 showed that people will use them if they are educated and have access. The study and their data is below. Now that it is 2023, with technology today, we can create the tools to help working caregivers with education and the tools to care for their loved ones when needed.

Barriers to Completion of Health Care Proxies, An Examination of Ethnic Differences

R. Sean Morrison, MD; Luis H. Zayas, PhD; Michael Mulvihill, DrPH; et alShari A. Baskin, MPH; Diane E. Meier, MD

Background  Advance directives have not been uniformly used by different segments of the US population and studies have consistently shown a lower prevalence of advance directives among African Americans and Hispanics compared with non–Hispanic whites.

Objective  To examine barriers to completion of health care proxies for different ethnic groups.

Methods  One hundred ninety-seven subjects aged 65 years or older self-identified as African American (n = 65), Hispanic (n = 65), or non–Hispanic white (n = 67) attending a geriatrics and internal medicine outpatient clinic of a large New York City teaching hospital were administered a questionnaire. Questionnaires were developed to examine potential barriers to completion of health care proxies. Barriers were drawn from the literature and from focus groups.

Results  Significant predictors of proxy completion using logistic regression analysis included knowledge of health care proxies, availability of a health care agent, exposure to mechanical ventilation, age, and self-reported health status as fair to poor. Subjects who believed that a health care agent was irrelevant in the setting of involved family were significantly less likely to have completed a health care proxy. Although there were significant differences in the baseline completion rates of health care proxies for the 3 ethnic groups, ethnicity did not predict prior appointment of a health care agent in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions  Differences in health care proxy completion rates across white, African American, and Hispanic elderly individuals in this New York City population seem to be related to potentially reversible barriers such as lack of knowledge and the perceived irrelevance of advance directives in the setting of involved family. Enhanced educational efforts of both health care personnel and patients could increase the rate of formal health care proxy appointment.

We are based on Google cloud technolgy.

Full time: 10

Part time: 1

Contractors: 2

Four years

We were founded by three women. We are certified by the Commonwealth of MA as a woman owned business.  We have a black, gay board member who routinely helps us make sure we are supporting equity and inclusion efforts from the products we develop to the content we produce.

Gentreo is an online estate planning software company.  Gentreo provides yearly memberships to users at the price of $100 per year and $50 for every year after for any or all documents needed (wills, health care proxies, living trust, powers of attorney, pet trusts, pet powers of attorneys and more) and for the ability to save, store and share any or all with whomever one chooses. Everyone over the age of 18 needs an estate plan which typically starts with a health care proxy. 

Gentreo provides yearly memberships to users at the price of $100 per year and $50 for every year after for any or all documents needed.

We have raised venture captial from multiple groups such as the Morgan Stanley Multicultural Innovation Lab, Fund X, the Florida Funders and more.