Neru Health tackles CPAP adherence, resupply gaps

BOSTON – Neru Health, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered care automation platform for sleep clinics and durable medical equipment (DME) providers, has quickly ramped up, helping thousands of patients with chronic conditions like sleep apnea, says Morgan Moncada. 

“It’s been really quick – the adoption, the need and the breadth,” said Moncada, co-founder and CEO.  

Neru Health, which can be integrated into Brightree and NikoHealth, provides:  

• Streamlined patient onboarding and home sleep testing guidance  
• CPAP support and troubleshooting  
• Smart adherence coaching (Medicare compliance) 
• Resupply coordination  

Meet Nora  

The foundation of the platform is Nora, a virtual team member that interacts with patients through text, voice and email to help solve issues related to therapy adherence and resupply.  

“What we’ve found, in working with DME providers, is that they’re all facing the same issues of wanting to grow while facing challenges with therapy adherence and resupply,” Moncada said. “Patients are falling through the gaps.”  

Neru Health has built Nora to manage a patient continuously through the process. She will educate patients on how to set up their CPAP devices and, later when they might have questions or issues, she will troubleshoot for them. She will connect to their data from their CPAP device and coach them through compliance. She will coordinate mask replacements and reorder supplies.  

“We’re seamlessly blending therapy with resupply in one unified experience for providers and patients,” Moncada said.  

When a provider’s team of respiratory therapists (RTs) no longer has to address some of these routine issues, they can support 10x the number of patients, allowing that provider to more efficiently and more economically scale the business while delivering great patient care, Moncada says.  

Clinically trained, personally customized  

Neru Health built the early building blocks for the platform with clinicians and sleep physicians, but it continuously builds out and refines it based on feedback from customers and patients. Right now, those customers include several DME providers and sleep clinics with national footprints.  

“There is a general framework that is off-the-shelf, then we can customize the rules of who the AI responds or reaches out to based on the customer’s preference, which gives them a lot of control to make this uniquely theirs,” Moncada said. “So, the platform continues to become more precise, safer and more comprehensive at the same time.”  

For adherence and resupply, Neru Health charges per patient or per patient campaign, which includes multiple contacts, as well as insurance and compliance checks. It also offers a phone customer service hotline to support patients with usage-based pricing.  

Company’s origins and expansion sights  

Moncada and co-founders Maria Grebenshchikova and Catherine Tadina spun out Neru Health from Harvard’s Blavatnik Life Science Fellowship in 2023, after Moncada himself struggled to find proper care for his obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia. The company also plans to apply its platform to other therapies and provider workflows.  

“We’re expanding thoughtfully across multiple therapies and continually improving how our platform delivers value,” Moncada said. “Our focus is on making it easier for providers to manage care end-to-end – and for patients to stay engaged with their therapy.”