What is the name of your organization?
CareMessage
What is the name of your solution?
CareMessage
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
CareMessage leverages technology to increase access to care, improve clinical outcomes, and address social drivers of health for low-income patients.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
CareMessage is fully remote with team members in the U.S., Canada and Brazil; Our official legal address is in San Francisco, CA.
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
United States
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
The U.S. spends nearly twice as much on healthcare as other wealthy nations, yet life expectancy remains worse—especially for low-income and marginalized communities. On average, low-income individuals in the U.S. live 10-15 years less than high-income populations, with even wider disparities among certain racial and ethnic groups. Compounding these issues, digital inequities lock millions out of critical healthcare resources. For example, 24% of households earning under $30K lack smartphones, and 40% of low-income adults lack home broadband or a computer, leaving them unable to access apps, emails, or web portals that other patients rely on.
CareMessage partners exclusively with safety-net healthcare providers, increasing their capacity to meet the needs of underserved communities. Third-party revenues and federal funding for these critical gap-filling providers have not kept pace with the rising costs of healthcare delivery. Further, as the patient population has grown, chronic healthcare worker shortages have intensified, increasing the pressure on the healthcare safety net. Meanwhile, Congress is contemplating substantial cuts to Medicaid, which would have devastating consequences for these already overburdened health centers and the vulnerable patients they serve.
What is your solution?
CareMessage leverages technology to offer needed support to safety-net providers in the United States, enabling them to operate more efficiently, maximize limited resources, and provide the best possible care to patients while navigating a challenging landscape. By enabling these providers to exchange critical health information via SMS and voice, we help alleviate digital inequities, language barriers, and internet access limitations.
CareMessage offers an AI-powered, mobile-first platform that enables resource-constrained healthcare providers to exchange automated, personalized text/SMS messages that help patients keep their appointments, manage chronic conditions, access preventive care, and receive health education in their preferred language. Designed with behavioral science principles, these messages increase engagement and adherence to care plans, improving health outcomes.
At the core of our innovation is the Health Equity Engine™, integrating real-time data, AI-driven automation, and seamless interoperability with Electronic Health Record and other systems. As we evolve, Generative AI (Gen AI) is central to expanding our platform’s capabilities and measuring our success, starting with enhancing response accuracy to help providers manage high patient volumes efficiently.
With a strong focus on innovation, CareMessage continuously adapts to provider and patient needs, expanding provider capacity, improving patient outcomes, and driving health equity at scale.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
CareMessage is dedicated to improving healthcare access for underserved populations across the United States, particularly those relying on safety-net providers such as federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), free and charitable clinics, and tribal health clinics. These communities face significant barriers to quality healthcare, including socioeconomic challenges, geographic isolation, and limited resource access.
CareMessage helps low-income patients achieve fewer missed appointments, better management of chronic health conditions, increased preventive care, and more efficient and accessible communication with their safety-net healthcare providers. On the provider side, overstretched clinical and support staff can spend less time on tasks like outreach phone calls and more time providing effective, data-driven patient care.
In 2024 alone, 417 of our partner organizations engaged over 5.7 million people through nearly 80 million messages across 45 U.S. States and Territories. FQHCs, which form a core part of our network (accounting for ~80% of the patients we reach), serve 1 in 9 children in the U.S., nearly 1.4 million people experiencing homelessness, and nearly 400,000 veterans. An estimated 90% of these patients live below 200% of the federal poverty level, making them particularly vulnerable to preventable health disparities.
