Virtual pain clinic offers non-opioid solution utilizing a team-based approach to care & the latest in pain neuroscience
Override, a new multi-specialty, virtual chronic pain solution, announces seed funding of $3.5 million. Founded by former US Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin MD, and his daughter, Jennie Shulkin JD, Override’s funding round was led by 7wireVentures and Martin Ventures, with SignalFire and Confluent Health joining the round. Shortly after fundraising, Override acquired the country’s leading pain management coaching business: Take Courage Coaching.
Today, 50 million adults (1 in 5) in the U.S. have chronic pain – with nearly half of them experiencing unsatisfactory management of their condition.
Override is a non-opioid solution that bridges the gaps in traditionally fragmented, one-size-fits-none chronic pain treatment. Even though chronic pain is known to affect more than just the body, pain care typically operates in silos – surgeons performing surgeries, primary care doctors prescribing opioids, psychologists conducting psychotherapy – without any communication between providers. Override is a virtual, one-stop-shop that matches patients with a team of chronic pain specialists in pain medicine, physical therapy, and behavioral health. These specialists treat Override patients individually and work together as a team.
When providers work together, clinical outcomes improve and cost of care decreases. Override uses the latest in pain neuroscience research to help patients make functional, behavioral, and movement-related changes needed to calm the nervous system and rewire pain neural pathways. The program strives to transform people dependent on opioids, chiropractors, and repeat injections into self-managers of their own pain experience and broader health.
Override’s Services At www.override.health, patients can purchase individual appointments with an Override pain physician, physical therapist, psychologist, and coach. Or patients can opt into a more intensive monthly bundle: in its “Comprehensive Pain Program,” each of Override’s care team members have frequent live appointments with the patient throughout the month, for several months.
Override is working directly with patients, as well as piloting its full, interdisciplinary model with employer and health system partners.
To ring in 2023, Override is giving full access to its Comprehensive Pain Program to 23 people for just $23/ month for six months! Interested individuals should begin with a free consultation.
The Founders Co-founder David Shulkin MD spent most of his career leading major health systems like Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. In 2014, President Obama appointed him as the VA’s Undersecretary of Health, and in 2017, President Trump appointed him to his Cabinet as the 9th VA Secretary. Under his leadership, the VA created programming to help scores of veterans with chronic pain taper off opioids. That program’s success informs much of Override’s approach.
Prior to co-founding Override, Jennie Shulkin JD graduated from Harvard Law School and served as a law clerk to a New York federal judge, Manhattan assistant district attorney, and white-collar criminal defense attorney. While attending school and building a career, Jennie has struggled to find adequate care for her own complex chronic pain syndrome. Override’s model is the type of care she felt she and others needed but didn’t exist.
“There are countless providers and companies focusing on the low hanging fruit: people with acute pain. That’s where traditional healthcare excels – injections, surgeries, painkillers. After traditional treatment fails, it’s chronic pain patients like me who are told they’re out of options, forgotten about, and thrown away as too complex. Override exists to serve them.” says Jennie Shulkin, Override co-founder and CEO.
“At 7wireVentures we often support founders whose lived experiences fuel their passion to change how healthcare is delivered for the better. Jennie Shulkin, CEO and co-founder of Override, and her family have struggled for years to find the right treatment for her chronic pain. Her learnings, and those witnessed by her father, Dr. David Shulkin, during his tenure leading the VA, have informed Override’s integrated, interdisciplinary care model. We are honored to be on this journey with them.” says Lee Shapiro, 7wireVentures Managing Partner and Override board member.