Joe Torres was first introduced to the healthcare industry in 2012, when he suffered a near-fatal accident. In 2020, Torres acquired a healthcare practice specializing in occupational and speech therapy that had helped him when he was in need. When he took over that practice, he realized there was a lack of tools that could have helped streamline the business side of the healthcare industry.
Torres and longtime friend Joshua Rivera are co-owners of J&J Companies, where their main product is OneCare NC. OneCare is a fully integrated end-to-end operating system for independent healthcare practices, providing everything from patient intake to billing to engagement dashboards all in one.
“When I took over that company, I recognized that there was a real big shortcoming of products and tools to help the practice run like an actual business,” Torres said. “What was one of the biggest pain points of healthcare is [that the] healthcare providers are not really business people.”
Torres described the problem that OneCare solves as a communication issue. On top of having to pay for and train workers to work with several different services, he also realized that none of those services “talked” to each other. Efficiency went down, and leakage of revenue went up.
Founded as its own entity in 2022, OneCare provides a suite made up of different platforms, one of which was a software company that had been in operation since the 1980s. (When J&J acquired it, they inherited an extensive customer base—the better part of 200 clients across 29 states.)
The platform also includes an electronic medical records system, a two-way text messaging system, an AI tutor and a reimbursement/claims program. Having access to all this information at all levels of the process gives OneCare an edge over its competitors, Torres said.
OneCare’s price point and practice
OneCare is able to scale and serve many kinds of independent healthcare practices, currently serving several different medical specialties including chiropractic, OB-GYN, primary care and podiatry. Regardless of the specialty, though, the key differentiator is that the startup is able to provide enterprise-level intelligence and automation at a price point independent practices can afford. This, Torres said, is what makes them the “total true operating system.”
When OneCare connects with a new practice, they like to perform an audit to identify points of success and where to improve. From there, the platform begins to take care of business needs so that practitioners can focus on the actual practice.
The main source of revenue for OneCare is a subscription-based model based on multi-year contracts with independent healthcare practices. The price for such a subscription varies based on the number of providers or patients.
Though OneCare already serves a multitude of clients across different states, to the tune of 230,000 patients in their current addressable customer base, Torres said that he hopes to expand the startup even outside of the United States.
Torres and Rivera said that they were in the process of their first seed round and were in talks with several local funds in the Triangle. Indeed, OneCare is deeply rooted in the Triangle community: The two friends and co-founders re members of the Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) and are partnered with local universities and many small practices in the area.
QUICK BITS
Startup: OneCare
Co-Founders: Joe Torres, Joshua Rivera
Founded: 2022
Team size: 7
Location: Raleigh
Website: onecarepm.com
Funding: Bootstrapped to date, raising seed
Torres said that one of his proudest moments with OneCare to date has been helping to save a practice that was in dire financial straits. Using the OneCare environment, within two weeks, the practice was able to easily send and receive claims to help alleviate that financial pressure.
As for the future, Torres and Rivera are focused on bringing in outside investors to further expand OneCare.
When asked what was next for the company, Torres replied with a grin: “Take over the world.”
“I think that we are really focusing on our seed round,” Torres continued. “This is our first time ever trying to raise money, and because we really want to accelerate growth, we’ve been grinding, and we’re going to continue to grind. But we’re now realizing that, hey, we’ve built something real.”
