TherapEase Cuisine Inc.
5005 W. Loomis Road, Suite 200, Greenfield
Industry: Health care information systems
Innovation: Online nutritional service for cancer patients.
Jim Hermann and Vivian Roe are cancer survivors. Roe was diagnosed with breast cancer, while she was pregnant, in 2006. Hermann was diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2001.
When they received treatment and battled those diseases, Hermann and Roe discovered that cancer patients lacked the nutritional information that they needed to fight the disease.
Based on that experience, they founded TherapEase Cuisine Inc. in 2008 to provide a nutritional solution to other cancer patients.
“Eighty percent of cancer patients never get diabetic counseling,” said Hermann, president and chief executive officer of the company.
“Most oncologist dieticians are focused on those in inpatient treatment and outpatients do not have access to individual care,” said Roe, founder and chief operational officer.
TherapEase Cuisine, which was launched in April 2009, is a 24/7 online nutritional system that provides customized nutritional recommendations, meal planning and education guided by a team of three registered oncology dieticians. Hermann said it is an affordable option for patients, which is important since Medicare and other insurers do not reimburse for dieticians.
“(The system is) founded by cancer survivors and created by oncology dieticians,” Hermann said.
Patients have access to individually subscribe to the system online for a monthly charge or through their hospital system.
“As the patient uses the system they can update changes for medications and course of treatment as it happens,” added Roe.
TherapEase Cuisine has customers in 27 states. It is offered through four health care providers, including Aurora, but patients can also order it on their own.
Roe and Hermann hope to decrease the number of malnutrition related deaths for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
“It is very important that patients and the cancer care community addresses nutritional needs of patients because it is a part of their everyday life,” Roe said.
