Ravel Health is revolutionizing Lyme disease care with affordable, virtual, and personalized treatment options for chronic illness patients.
Perhaps you’ve been diagnosed with Lyme or other tick-borne illness. Maybe you’ve been suffering with chronic symptoms for years but have yet to receive a diagnosis. In either case, you want to see a Lyme literate medical provider (often referred to as LLMD), but you find yourself up against several barriers: wait-lists are months to years long. Providers don’t take insurance, and their rates are prohibitively expensive. You can’t find a provider in your area, and don’t have the energy or the means to travel. Sound familiar?
Chronic Lyme patients Kevin Williams and Jaime Intile know first-hand the frustrations that patients face in gaining access to treatment, so they’ve created a better way. Global Lyme Alliance is proud to partner with Williams and Intile’s company, Ravel Health, which specializes in matching patients with affordable, virtual care for Lyme, mold, and complex illness.
Available in ten states with the hope to be nationwide by 2025, Ravel Health offers subscription-based services that quickly match patients to vetted care teams who provide personalized telehealth including testing, treatment plans, prescriptions, and supplements.
"Ravel Health aims to simplify the Lyme journey from start to finish..."
“It can take a long time between onset of symptoms and diagnosis, and then getting a diagnosis is only half the battle,” Williams says. “We wanted to build something that we would have loved to have.” Unlike traditional medical practices, Ravel Health aims to simplify the Lyme journey from start to finish:
- No medical gaslighting or saying “it’s all in your head”
- No waitlists to see a vetted Lyme-literate provider
- Personalized provider/patient matching
- Conventional, Functional, and Integrative treatment options
- Affordable 30, 60, or 90-minute monthly appointments with ability to upgrade or downgrade on a monthly basis
- Significant discounts on labs and supplements
- Everything done from the comfort of home
How does it work?
Ravel Health providers, including MDs, NDs, and NPs, go through a strict screening process. Each has at least six years of experience treating Lyme and chronic illness and is vetted through Williams and Intile themselves, and then through Ravel’s Chief Medical Officer.
After filling out a short questionnaire, patients are matched with up to three Lyme-literate providers in their state. Williams and Intile review initial questionnaires with the Chief Medical Officer to figure out the best possible fits based on individual patient preferences. Patients then choose from up to three providers. “We want patients to select providers based on fit, such as a provider’s specialties or treatment philosophy,” says Williams.
Patients also choose between affordable monthly subscription plans that offer different appointment lengths and intervals based on individual need. No matter the subscription, patients will always have ready access to providers, with guaranteed monthly appointments and guaranteed portal responses within three business days. “We believe deeply in continuity of care,” says Williams. “When a patient is having a flare, they need to be able to contact their provider or get an appointment booked. We want to make sure patients aren’t left hanging.”
Providers use evidence-supported labs and treatment protocols, personalizing them for each patient. Recommended test kits, lab orders, medications and supplements are sent directly to patient’s homes, with the option of mobile blood draws in certain areas. And Ravel Health’s simple model doesn’t just benefit patients. “We provide wraparound services so providers can focus on treatment,” Williams notes. Providers have a built-in community with whom they can share complex cases and ask questions.
What are patients saying?
Ravel Health ran a pilot from October to March with seven providers and thirty patients. The results were incredibly positive. Knowing that providers are vetted and curated, and knowing that they wouldn’t be medically gaslighted, put patients at ease. Patients know that Williams and Intile understand what they’re going through and have been through it themselves, so they trust they’re in good hands. “That piece is key for patients,” says Williams. He adds that having everything streamlined was refreshing for patients, as well as having options to choose from. Since Lyme and chronic illness strips patients of so much agency, Williams says, “We want to give patients as much choice as possible.”
Why Ravel?
Besides offering affordable, streamlined, and timely care from knowledgeable providers, Ravel focuses on the patient journey to health, as evidenced by the company’s name. With Lyme disease, life often unravels as patients fight for diagnosis, treatment, validation, and their health. Ravel Health helps patients ravel their health back together. “We are changing the way Lyme patients are treated,” says Williams.
To learn more about Williams and Intile, watch their episode on The Tick Chicks.
To learn more about Ravel Health, visit ravel.health
Ravel is available in CO, CT, IA, MN, MT, NE, PA, TX, WA & WI. To become a patient, go to https://ravel.health/get_started.
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