The Internet can certainly be a wacky place but it can also be pretty wonderful. Recently I came across a company and website that falls into the later category – MyPSW.ca.
A casual Twitter link lead me to an announcement from MaRS naming MyPSW.ca as one of ten healthcare startups transforming the delivery healthcare in Ontario.
Increasingly, due to budgetary and other factors, the hands-on care provided to your loved ones in hospital settings, and especially the community, is being provided by personal support workers or PSW’s.
Many of my clients here at Top Lawyers are personal injury lawyers and my first thought was the benefit such a resource could be for their injured clients. Upon discharge from a general hospital or rehabilitation centre, returning home proves difficult for many. The everyday activities of daily living, that we all take for granted when healthy, become challenging or impossible to perform after being seriously injured. – Enter the home healthcare worker and/or PSW – Nurses and PSW’s are the backbone of our system yet under appreciated and underpaid. Which brings me to my second thought…
Win – Win
My second thought was the “Win-Win” proposition of their business model. Traditionally, in the case of someone injured in a car accident, for example, the insurer pays a nursing agency to provide the needed services. They may charge the insurance company $30/hour or more, but may only pay the visiting PSW, $12 – $14/hour.
MyPSW.ca charges $20/hour but only takes an administrative fee of 15% resulting in a average hourly rate of approximately $17/hour in the care givers pocket and allows those who need assistance, a more affordable home care option in Ontario.
That’s a “Win – Win” in my books.
(Disclosure: This blog post was not solicited or remunerated in any way. It was written solely in appreciation of innovation and the Canadian entrepreneurial spirit.)