Pioneers on the road to enhancing healthcare worldwide, Rethink, under the leadership Daniel Etra, Co-Founder & CEO, is providing cloud-based treatment tools, training and clinical supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers. The seeds of the global health technology brand was shown in 2007 with a mission to inspire and empower individuals with developmental disabilities and those who support them.
Leveraging technology to provide a scalable and affordable solution— Rethink aims to provide families, educators and behavioural healthcare providers affordable, best practice treatment solutions for children with special needs. Presently, the Rethink program is being used by employers, the US Department of Defense, Managed Care organizations, Medicaid, federal, state and social service agencies, public school districts, and families nation- and worldwide.
Meet the Leader
Rethink, run by Daniel A. Etra, CEO & Co-Founder, is leading a team of education, clinical, business and industry experts with a shared commitment to making best-practice treatment solutions available to every child with special needs. Under his guidance, the Company is successfully offering support, tools, and content via technology to all market segments and reaching more children.
Prior to co-founding Rethink, Mr Etra was CEO of R.E.R. International, a supplier of printed materials to the retail industry. In addition, he worked with many global companies in managerial positions. In academics, Daniel Etra has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Yale University.
Daniel Etra’s Dynamic Leadership
Beginning with a focus on families caring for a dependent with a developmental disability, Rethink, under Mr Etra’s leadership, has expanded its product range to serve all entities revolving around the care of this population. Today, Rethink’s three divisions – Education, Employer & Behavioural Health – provide treatment tools and supports for caregivers in the public school system, for employees of Fortune 500 companies in over 120 countries, and in the healthcare system through public and private behavioural health agencies.
Rethink’s an Effective Web-Based Program
With a significant dearth of trained professionals (there are only approximately 30,000 Board Certified Behavioural Therapists) available to meet the needs of a growing population with a developmental disability (approximately 450 million individuals birth-21 globally), Rethink set out to create a scalable solution that would make clinical best practice treatment tools and supports available to the individual and their caregiver(s) no matter where they are located.
Unique Service Portfolio
Providing research-based teaching strategies grounded in the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), the award-winning Rethink program includes a comprehensive online individualized treatment program with over 1,500 video-based demonstrations – developed by internationally-recognized experts in the field – to train caregivers, parents, professional and paraprofessional staff how to manage problem behaviours as well as teach an individual with a developmental disability critical skills.
Automated data-based reports track progress in real-time, facilitate coordination across care team members, and allow for robust data analytics on outcomes. Besides, Program Specialists can also utilize Rethink as a form of job-embedded professional development and to augment coaching caregivers and other support staff. Rethink also offers a range of technology-enabled remote service options, ranging from short-term web-based consultations with Rethink’s Board-certified behavioural therapists to ongoing program development initiatives supported by an in-house team of clinicians. In addition, Rethink’s practice management offering allows for the tracking of service authorizations and cost of treatment as it relates to clinical outcomes. Rethink serves individuals at all levels of development and ages ranging from point of diagnosis through early adulthood.
A Case Study Showing How Rethink’s Methodology Surpassed An Organization’s Expectation
One of the most critical needs in employee benefits is supporting employees caring for a child with a developmental disability such as autism or ADHD. Costco Wholesale decided to be proactive and offer unique supports such as the Rethink program to these employees, who make up nearly 20% of the workforce. As Donna Sexton, the Director of Employee Benefits at Costco noted: “I can’t think of any benefits we’ve ever added to our suite that got so much attention and so many letters to our president, thanking him for bringing Rethink on, and what a difference it was going to make in their lives.”
Key Differentiating Factors
Rethink is unique in the marketplace by offering a scalable and fully integrated solution to addressing the needs of individuals with a developmental disability and their caregivers. Rethink’s employees share a deep passion for having a social impact and drive continuous innovation in the products that Rethink offers.
The “Secret Sauce”
Despite what many may think, building a successful company does not happen overnight.
There is the expression “the 10-year overnight success.”
This is particularly true for entrepreneurs and successful ones need to be willing to pivot
their business strategy to respond to changing market conditions as well as to have the
patience to play the long game and be willing and able to move the ball down the field a
little bit every day.
Awards and Achievements
For its outstanding contribution to the society and extraordinary service, Rethink has received several honours such as being named among the most innovative and best healthcare companies consecutively over the years and has won numerous awards including Inc. 500 Award, Interactive Media Awards – Best in Class, Healthcare, AI Excellence Award – Most Outstanding for Inclusive Education Evidence-Based Treatment Solutions in, and CV Magazine Achievement Award – Best for Inclusive Education & Evidence-Based Treatment Solutions, and Mid-Atlantic Innovator & Entrepreneur Award and Global Excellence Award for Most Innovative Behavioural Health Software to name a few.
Although it’s not just the organization that has made such an impact, for his leadership, philanthropic achievements, and dedication as an entrepreneur, Daniel has been recognized as CEO of the year and received the prestigious Smart CEO Future 50 Award.
Road Ahead
The Company is in the process of expanding its core product offering beyond treatment tools and supports for dependents with a developmental disability and their caregivers to adults with a developmental disability, including supporting those individuals in the workplace.
A Piece of Advice for Entrepreneurs
Find a problem in the market that is not yet addressed with an effective solution, develop a vision of a solution to address that problem, and surround yourself with capable people that are smarter than you to create a product that will solve the problem. And always continue to innovate and improve that solution!
