A Blueprint to Health
Blueprint Health is a company that could bring sophisticated technology, processes, and logisitics to hormone replacement thereapy- a segment of healthcare that needed legitimate certified businiess.
SweetSpot
BluePrint Health
Why 2016 is important: Company seeks at least $3 million in capital to expand network of patients and doctors.
Dan Miller, CEO Blueprint Health
Dan Miller, with a long career in tech startups, including several successful mobile marketing firms, is devoted to personal fitness, from riding his bike to work to grueling CrossFit classes.
Despite analyzing, advising and investing in companies for 30 years, Miller rarely came across a health care business he believed had the right components to become a blockbuster success. That changed after Miller met pharmaceutical sales executive Jake Michel, behind a St. Petersburg startup called BluePrint Health.
Michel and his partners founded BluePrint Health from what they believed was a significant gap in health care: A company that could bring sophisticated technology, processes and logistics to hormone replacement therapy — a segment of health and wellness often misunderstood and occasionally tarnished by some shady players. “There is a stigma around hormone therapy,” says Miller.
But Miller, whom BluePrint initially hired to analyze the business plan and market, was wowed by the what-could-be. Hormone replacement therapy is a $4 billion to $8 billion industry, but few, if any companies, work with both doctors and patients on the process.
BluePrint Health does that through a team of nurses outside the physician’s office, who work with the patients from diagnosis to hormone injections. The company started treating patients in August. Officials project BluePrint will turn a profit next year and, if it reaches its target capital-raise goal, the company could surpass $7 million in sales in 2016.
“We are not creating a new market, but we are approaching it from a more efficient way,” Miller says. “This is such a unique model. There isn’t a direct competitor who does what we do.”
Miller liked BluePrint so much, he became an investor and was later named CEO. Miller’s past ventures range from business incubator Startup Florida to Movo Mobile, a cell phone marketing firm. He relished the chance to lead BluePrint. “The idea that I could become involved in a business that could dramatically improve someone’s life,” says Miller, “was very inspiring to me.”
Hormone replacement therapy treats imbalances in the body caused by a lack of hormones. Symptoms from a lack of hormones include mood swings, weight gain and depression.
BluePrint offers affiliate agreements for physicians, who can sign up and utilize the service without any fees after being trained on the process. An affiliated physician then prescribes BluePrint for a patient, man or woman, in need of hormone replacement therapy.
A patient, meanwhile, can work through his or her doctor or go to BluePrint directly. The process after that follows normal medical procedures: A patient gets a blood workup. Then BluePrint clinicians look at everything from cholesterol levels to liver and kidney health to the thyroid function.
BluePrint, in consultation with a physician, next puts the patient on a 12-week hormone replacement therapy cycle. BluePrint virtual nurses work regularly with patients, on follow-up calls and to monitor progress.
BluePrint earns a fee from charging patients. Payments are cash only, though Miller says the firm is working on possibly adding an insurance program this year. Costs vary, but medical oversight for the specialized lab work is $350 to $400 and medications can range from $150 to $500 a month.
BluePrint’s competitive advantage, Miller says, is technology, including a comprehensive database, which simplifies hormone replacement therapy — both for patient and physician. “We built a very scalable, very robust back-end platform,” Miller says.
Miller and the founders invested about $200,000 to get the business going over the past year. That money, for technology and marketing, led to a fast start in signing up physicians nationwide. Doctors with BluePrint affiliate agreements are in at least seven states, from New York to Oklahoma. Several doctors in the Sarasota and Tampa markets have also signed on with BluePrint.
The looming business challenge at BluePrint is to raise capital so it could graduate from shoestring days, and also invest more in marketing. It seeks at least $3 million, and is working with both angel and startup investors and other potential backers.
Miller, while working with investors, remains motivated by the company’s mission. Says Miller: “We are really helping people feel better and live more fully.”
Blueprint's Patient Management System - v7.1
Blueprint is committed to providing our partners with the most efficient and complete program for managing their HRT patients. To that end, we’re excited to announce the release of Version 7.1 of Blueprint’s Patient Management Platform!
Blueprint is committed to providing our partners with the most efficient and complete program for managing their HRT patients. To that end, we’re excited to announce the release of Version 7.1 of Blueprint’s Patient Management Platform!
Three key functional additions to the platform include:
1. Clients: View a list of your Blueprint patients. Click on any patient to view contact and status information about that patient. Add notes or update the patient’s status.
2. Reports: Click on the reports link to see real-time data on your Earned Medical Oversight Fees on a patient-by-patient basis. Sort by any field and search by patient name, date range, etc. Download your report for archiving or accounting purposes.
3. Education: Announcing the initial launch of Blueprint University! Click on the Education link to review our evolving library of clinical education about Hormone Replacement Therapy. We’ve got 5 segments completed with another 7 on the way. We’ll alert you when new segments are available over the coming weeks.
Blueprint University is perfect to refresh yourself on the various aspects of HRT and to more completely understand the Blueprint protocols.
To log-in to your dashboard, visit: http://www.blueprint2health.com/user/sign_in(Bookmark this page) .
BP Health Lab Work and Why We Do Them - Testosterone
Typically, a test for total testosterone is used for diagnosis. The total testosterone test measures testosterone that is bound to proteins in the blood (e.g., albumin and sex-hormone binding globulin [SHBG]) as well as testosterone that is not bound.
Testosterone
How is it used? When is it ordered? What does the test result mean? Is there anything else I should know?
How is it used?
Testosterone testing is used to diagnose several conditions in men, women, girls, and boys. Examples of some of these conditions include:
- Delayed or precocious (early) puberty in boys
- Decreased sex drive in men and women
- Erectile dysfunction in men
- Infertility in men and women
- Testicular tumors in men
- Hypothalamus or pituitary disorders
- Hirsutism and virilization in girls and women
When is it ordered?
In boys with delayed or slowly progressing puberty, the test is often ordered with the FSH and LH tests. Although there are differences from individual to individual as to when puberty begins, it is generally by the age of 10 years. Some symptoms of delayed puberty may include:
- Delayed development of muscle mass
- Lack of deepening of the voice or growth of body hair
- Slow or delayed growth of testicles and penis
In men, the test may be ordered when infertility is suspected or when a man has a decreased sex drive or erectile dysfunction. Some other symptoms include lack of beard and body hair, decreased muscle mass, and development of breast tissue (gynecomastia). Low levels of total and bioavailable testosterone have also been associated with a greater presence of visceral fat (midriff or organ fat), insulin resistance, and increased risk of coronary artery disease.
In females, testosterone testing may be done when a woman has irregular or no menstrual periods (amenorrhea), is having difficulty getting pregnant, or appears to have masculine features, such as excessive facial and body hair, male pattern baldness, and/or a low voice. Testosterone levels can rise because of tumors that develop in either the ovary or adrenal glandor because of other conditions, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
What does the test result mean?
Males: The normal range for testosterone levels in men is broad and varies by stage of maturity and age. It is normal for testosterone levels to slowly decline starting in the third decade of life. The rate may increase in men who are obese or chronically ill and with the use of certain medications.
A low testosterone level (hypogonadism) may be due to:
- Hypothalamic or pituitary disease
- Genetic diseases that can cause decreased testosterone production in young men (Klinefelter, Kallman, and Prader-Willi syndromes) or testicular failure and infertility (as in myotonic dystrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy)
- Impaired testosterone production because of acquired damage to the testes, such as from alcoholism, physical injury, orviral diseases like mumps
- Testicular tumors
- Adrenal tumors that are producing testosterone
- Use of androgens (also called anabolic steroids)
- Early puberty of unknown cause in boys
- Hyperthyroidism
- Congenital adrenal hyperplasia
- PCOS
- Ovarian or adrenal gland tumor
- Congenital adrenocortical hyperplasia
Is there anything else I should know?
Alcoholism and liver disease in males can decrease testosterone levels. Drugs, including androgens and steroids, can also decrease testosterone levels.
Prostate cancer responds to androgens, so many men with advanced prostate cancer receive drugs that lower testosterone levels.
Drugs such as anticonvulsants, barbiturates, and clomiphene can cause testosterone levels to rise. Women taking estrogen therapy may have increased testosterone levels.