RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Sign Health, a digital health company whose mission since 2019 has been to promote access to quality medicine for classes C and D (lower to average middle class), most of whom rely exclusively on Brazil’s free national health service (SUS), received an R$8 (US$1.5) million investment from Astella Investimentos.
The startup is now called Kompa Saúde and aims to develop new technologies such as artificial intelligence. This move is part of its expansion plans in the Brazilian market. Today, the startup, which expects to grow more than 300% by the end of this year, has 58 employees, operates in four states, and has already served more than 3,000 patients remotely.
The company focuses on the constant monitoring, care, and maintenance of the health of the subscribers, explains Bruno Carvalho, CEO of Kompa.
To democratize routine medicine for a public that still relies heavily on the national health service (SUS) and cannot afford private health insurance, Kompa Saúde will invest some of its resources in the patient experience.
To mark the occasion, the startup has launched its own application in which subscribers can count not only on doctors and nurses around the clock but also on Karmen, the virtual nurse already in use.
Artificial intelligence takes over patient scheduling so that medical staff can devote themselves to providing the most humane care possible.
“We will not give up until every Brazilian citizen has to access to quality digital healthcare in the palm of their hand. That’s what we believe in,” Carvalho said.
QUALITY HEALTH CARE
Brazil has had a unified national healthcare system (SUS) since 1988. A survey conducted by the National Health Agency shows that more than 20% of the Brazilian population uses private health insurance.
The vast majority of those insured pay out a fairly high amount, which does not mean that they are satisfied with the products offered, let alone have access to quality services.
According to the study, this becomes even more apparent when you consider that the number of lawsuits against health insurance fees has increased by more than 1,600% in the last 2 years.
“An expensive plan does not always equate to quality. We provide health services that adapt to the needs of our population, making quality medicine more accessible to the population and offering telemedicine and follow-up care to a population that can’t afford private health insurance,” Carvalho stresses.
And for those who rely only on the public system, the situation has worsened during the pandemic. According to the National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats, more than 1 billion medical procedures have not been performed by the SUS since March 2020. As a result, a large portion of the population has sought alternatives.
Given this scenario, telemedicine has proven to be a very viable intervention. A survey conducted by the Brazilian Association of Health Insurance Companies shows that more than 2.5 million Brazilians have used this service since March 2020.
A recent study shows that one in five Internet users over the age of 16 in Brazil has already used telemedicine services, with SUS users predominating with a share of 63%.
SOCIAL CLASSES IN BRAZIL
There are several different concepts of social classes in Brazil, but the most widely adopted by the market classifies society in letters from A to E. This definition is based, overall, on the household’s gross monthly income, as follows:
(Minimum wage is RS$ 1,039)
Class A (earners of more than 20 minimum wages);
Class B (from 10 to 20 minimum wages);
Class C (from 4 to 10 minimum wages);
Class D (from 2 to 4 minimum wages);
Class E (earning up to 2 minimum wages).
These are the classes as defined by The Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE). IBGE defines the income-based social classes in multiples of the national minimum salary, which at the moment is RS$1.039
As the differences in the cost of living are quickly increasing between the metropolitan and rural areas of Brazil, this demographic segmentation will translate into different purchasing powers depending on the location of the household.