MEDIA RELEASE
Theratrak, an innovative Australian healthtech startup, has been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Boosting Female Founders Initiative.
In the third round of the funding, $11.6 million was up for grabs after 697 expressions of interest were considered. Theratrak was one of 34 companies receiving funding - and the only one focused on the allied health and disability sector. This $150,000 grant is a testament to the innovative approach Theratrak is taking when digitising home therapy programs for kids with disabilities, while also supporting allied health professionals.
In Australia, there are over four million people living with a disability and about one million of those people live with a profound disability. With over 630,000 NDIS participants, there's a critical demand for accessible, quality allied healthcare. After a recent comprehensive review of the NDIS, it was revealed that the type of early intervention and support that Theratrak offers to children could play a more significant role in the NDIS's future direction.
Theratrak is at the forefront of meeting the demands within allied health through telehealth and digital solutions, revolutionising care delivery for those in regional and remote areas.
This funding will help to enhance Theratrak's offerings, including advanced reporting tools, engaging preloaded therapy activities, and improved accessibility features.
Theratrak’s platform is also poised to make a positive impact for the over 200,000 allied health professionals in Australia. A recent study shows that 43% of NDIS workers feel burnt out at least half the time from trying to maintain large workloads and 12% feel burnt out most of the time.
For the past five years, Theratrak has supported allied health professionals to prescribe, track and monitor home therapy programs reducing the admin burden for clinicians and saving them time everyday. For people in therapy, Theratrak has engaging gamification features motivating participants to complete home programs, all with the goal of enhancing therapy outcomes.
Passionate occupational therapist and CEO & Founder of Theratrak, Laura Simmons has pioneered this solution to extend healthcare beyond face-to-face therapy sessions, addressing the challenge of patients forgetting 40%-80% of discussions within minutes of leaving a session with healthcare professionals.
This grant reflects our team's unwavering commitment and passion for making a substantial difference in the lives of millions of Australians living with disabilities," Laura Simmons, CEO and Founder of Theratrak comments.
“Everyday, we’re working to reduce the administrative burdens for allied health professionals and we’re looking forward to making even more impact with help from the Boosting Female Founder Grant.
We’ve got big plans to make our platform even more engaging for participants building on our existing gamification updates and we can’t wait to support more people going through therapy. We’ve had inspiring feedback from clinics and families around Australia already using Theratrak at home and we’re excited to release new updates to make home therapy more fun - all while reducing allied health admin."
Laura has been a driving force in the allied healthtech industry, leveraging her decade-long experience in paediatric occupational therapy across Sydney and applying lessons from supporting allied health clinics across Australia and America. In 2023, Laura was selected as a Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellow with the Sidney Myer Fund and The Myer Foundation and travelled to Kansas City to win the Inventor Showcase at the American Occupational Therapy Association conference.
A portion of the grant will also be allocated to marketing and research initiatives, including a research collaboration with Western Sydney University led by Dr Caroline Mills to expand upon a previous quantitative evaluation of the digital home-programming tool.
Presented at the Occupational Therapy Australia Conference in 2023, the study Data Driven Home Programs focused on how families complete home therapy activities on the Theratrak platform where 72% of users were prescribed home programs the same day they joined. The study showed how the mobile app can serve as a therapy adjunct and help overcome wait times for therapy services.
Another Theratrak research project was with Thrive Group in regional Victoria - an allied health clinic with a growing waitlist. Director Annie Seccull found Theratrak as a solution online to support families waiting to see their clinicians.
"The hardest thing about allied health is not being able to support and service everyone who needs access to an occupational therapist - especially in our regional town of Shepparton, VIC. In 2023, we had 250 families on our waitlist to see a therapist. Theratrak was essential to support these families so I worked closely with Laura to ensure we could create programs with clear outcomes for families waiting to see a therapist.” said Annie Seccull, Occupational Therapist and Director of Thrive Group.
The outcome of the research showed that participant families felt more supported, they increased their knowledge of occupational therapy concepts, and how they can support their kids at home. For their therapists, they experienced more job satisfaction and spent less time on admin.
Theratrak's recognition through the Boosting Female Founders Initiative underscores its pivotal role in transforming allied health care in Australia. By enhancing its platform with the support of this grant, Theratrak is set to further its mission of improving therapy outcomes for children with disabilities and reducing the administrative load on healthcare professionals.
Want to learn more about how Theratrak works?
Schedule an appointment with the team to learn how we support allied health professionals to streamline their workflow and we empower participants to complete home therapy programs.
