ICareBetter

04/29/2025

iCareBetter Endometriosis Experts are leading voices in solving one of the world’s most misunderstood diseases—clinicians who don’t just treat, but advocate, educate, and redefine what great care looks like.

iCareBetter Experts are:

1. Clinically Excellent – Proven skills, real-world outcomes, deep understanding of the disease.

2. Patient-First – They listen, validate, and co-create care with their patients.

3. System-Changers – They go beyond their clinic walls—educating peers, pushing research, or building better models of care.

Less than 1% of doctors and providers meet our criteria. Every expert is assessed before being presented to patients.

Every iCareBetter Expert has been reviewed by a scientific, unbiased method, not for their titles, but for how well they treat endometriosis patients.

04/03/2025

Improving Transparency: Our New AI-Enhanced Scoring System

Dear Endometriosis Community,

We’re writing to share an exciting update about how we evaluate and score endometriosis surgeons during the video-vetting process.

As part of our commitment to transparency and objectivity, we’ve recently updated our scoring system to ensure it reflects a more accurate, consistent, and data-driven assessment of surgical expertise. These improvements were driven by AI, helping us eliminate subjectivity and bring greater fairness and precision to the evaluation process.

From now on, all submitted surgical videos will be scored using a standardized formula developed with the assistance of AI. This formula considers multiple qualitative and technical scores given by expert reviewers, then calculates a final score for each surgeon in a way that is objective and consistent across all evaluations.

This is part of our continued effort to make sure patients can confidently find skilled and trustworthy specialists—and to support surgeons who are genuinely delivering exceptional care.

As always, thank you for being part of this community. Your trust drives everything we do.

Warmly,
Saeid Gholami
iCareBetter

11/23/2024

My dear friend at has written a critical piece about the current state of healthcare and the future under Trump administration. I personally believe this applies to endometriosis care word-by-word.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

11/15/2024

Today, iCareBetter announces the termination of its sponsorship for Nancy’s Nook website: nancysnookendo.com

This decision comes as iCareBetter experiences remarkable growth. Our platform is expanding daily. 1,000 patients engage with us online daily to find endometriosis experts. To serve these patients, we have over 250 endometriosis providers from several disciplines, and at the moment, four new surgeons are undergoing video vetting. To meet this growth, new approaches and essential decisions are unavoidable.

Looking forward, our mission remains clear and energizing. We aim to build a supportive community of providers, encourage multidisciplinary collaboration for endometriosis care, and ensure patients can access the best possible experts for endometriosis surgery and other related care. To succeed in our mission, we must build the highest level of trust. Our offering is grounded in creating a trusted platform where patients can find expert care, providers can support and learn from one another, and the best treatment options can be made available. Achieving this goal will help realize a future where the time from endometriosis symptoms to expert endometriosis care is less than a year. This time is currently more than seven years.

Moving forward, we will fully focus on delivering the next phase of our mission while ensuring we remain transparent, impartial, innovative, and patient-centered. The timing of this transition reflects our commitment to scaling our operations and building a thriving community of providers dedicated to the highest standards of care.

For our patients, we want to reassure you that our dedication remains intact. We are here to support you in finding the best endometriosis experts. Finding the right expert is the most important step in receiving appropriate endometriosis care. We will continue working tirelessly to provide a trusted database of top endometriosis experts and multidisciplinary options.

We are deeply grateful for the partnership and the invaluable contributions Nancy Petersen has made to the endometriosis community. As part of this transition, after several weeks of planning and open communication, iCareBetter is transferring Nancy’s Nook domain ownership to Nancy Peterson. From this point forward, iCareBetter will no longer be responsible for the content or management of that website.

Sincerely,
Saeid Gholami
CEO, iCareBetter

09/24/2024

Numbers don’t lie. We love mathematics because it’s simple.

08/27/2024

Endometriosis typology and ovarian cancer. Please watch this conversation with a gyn-oncologist who specializes in endometriosis and cancer.

Dr. Steve Vasilev is a gynecologist and has several articles and books on the topic of cancer and endometriosis. He discussed the new article on the relation...

07/11/2024

Living with endometriosis means battling a myriad of symptoms daily. Recognizing and understanding these 20 symptoms is crucial for awareness and support. If you're experiencing any of these, consult your doctor. You deserve support and proper care. 💪

For detailed information on the 20 symptoms of endometriosis, please follow this link. https://icarebetter.com/20-signs-and-symptoms-of-endometriosis/
Let's raise awareness and offer compassion to those living with endometriosis.

04/09/2024

Video-Vetted Vs. Non-Video-Vetted Vs. Subjectivity

To the endometriosis community,

Over the past several months, we have had some questions regarding iCarebetter and the legitimacy of the organization. We have seen several posts, comments, and threads sharing various information and questions about iCarebetter and the vetting platform. We thought it might be helpful to clear the air and provide answers in case anyone has been confused. Specifically, we are here to answer these questions:

-Are all of the surgeons on iCareBetter video vetted?
-Do doctors have to pay iCarebetter to be added to the expert list on the website?
-Is the vetting process for iCarebetter regulated?

We fully understand and appreciate the concerns about the quality of an excision surgeon and the complexity of assessing a surgeon's skill for a patient.

Before diving into the Video-Vetting and iCareBetter list, let’s review other options. There have been several recommendations, which include:
Review the surgeon’s social media profile and their surgical videos
-Use Google to search for nearby doctors and their reviews
-Ask surgeons how many complex surgeries they have done
-Look at their publications
-Lists

While many of those with endometriosis have had to do this for many years, It is obvious that these solutions are not practical or helpful for many patients, and they lack objectivity.

For example, reading in detail about someone’s experience can be helpful. However, reading a list of Google reviews will often be one-sided or only demonstrate extreme views—those with extremely positive or negative experiences.

Having scientific publications doesn’t mean a surgeon is good. Most people have been informed that funding sources, conflicts of interest, and the quality of research are important to understand. Without having a background in healthcare or research, this can be hard for patients to understand how to do or what to look for. There are also publications that say the right things, but their intentions are not in the right place and there may be secondary gain. Many surgeons in the endo space may demonstrate a good understanding of endo, but this does not always extend in their surgical skills.

Knowing the power dynamic between patients and surgeons, it is almost impossible to get a clear answer about how many endo surgeries a surgeon has performed. Logically, it makes sense that if a doctor is only performing a few surgeries per month compared to someone doing a few surgeries per week, the physician performing more has more practice. That being said, there are other considerations that are beyond the control of the physician.

We can go on and on, but you get the idea. The bottom line is that everyone has their own subjective perspective, which is based on past experiences, their own research, and oftentimes others' influence and experiences. And we all know each individual is different and what worked for me might not work for you.

In contrast to all these methodologies, iCareBetter has only applied objective processes. We have only examined evidence to see what works.

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine used actual data to show that video-based surgical skill scores were correlated with Complications. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1300625

iCareBetter then applied this Journal Article methodology to endometriosis surgery. We created the list of Video-Vetted surgeons after vetting their surgeries. iCareBetter started by only listing surgeons who passed video vetting. This process requires surgeons to submit three videos with specific criteria, which are then peer-reviewed by other experts in this field. The entire process is double-blinded.

As iCareBetter is relatively new to the endo space, it took some time to build up our resources. Unfortunately, the number of surgeons submitting videos and the number of surgeons who passed was very low. Additionally, reviewing a surgeon's videos is very long and usually takes three months on average. At the same time, 90% of patients who used iCareBetter could not find a surgeon based on their criteria and location. In order to serve the needs of those utilizing iCareBetter to find care, we had to make a change so patients could still find a doctor who could still provide some surgical care. Therefore, we made the decision to add a second group of surgeons who are non-video-vetted. These surgeons are added based on their peers' recommendations and their personal interests. Patients can review them on their iCareBetter profile, and we publish the reviews without filters.

We hope that these non-video-vetted surgeons will take the steps to pass the video-vetting in the future. Meanwhile, the Video-Vetted designation is explicitly stated on the profile of the Video-Vetted surgeon, there is no fine print.

In regards to the questions about surgeons paying to be on iCareBetter, we did begin this process by charging doctors a subscription fee to be on iCareBetter. But since over a year ago, we have given the option for a 100% discount, and surgeons can choose to be on iCareBetter for zero subscription fee. To keep the lights on, we only charge doctors if we help them with promotion or management services such as training their staff to offer better care to patients and giving them marketing strategies, all of which are optional. That said, for video vetting, the only required fee for surgeons is a one-time review fee of $400 that pays for reviewers and the cost of the review.

Currently, we have 222 providers, including surgeons on iCareBetter, and we are seeing constant interest and growth. We will continue to do video-vetting and hope that more surgeons will become Video-Vetted. We continue Video-Vetting for patients’ interest and for the purpose of transparency.

We would love to hear your thoughts and concerns.

02/01/2024

𝐢𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞

“
Based on patients’ needs and considering the lack of appropriate endometriosis care, iCareBetter launches Endometriosis Centers for long-term care. The centers' focus will be long-term endometriosis care before and after excision surgery. We will collaborate closely with excision surgeons, physical therapists, and other providers on iCareBetter to offer long-term multidisciplinary care to endometriosis patients. We believe that excision surgery is the gold standard of treatment for endometriosis, and we also believe that patients need an ongoing care plan and monitoring after excision surgery, even if the best surgeons in the world do it.
”

() This is Dr. Saeid Gholami, the founder of iCareBetter. I have an important announcement to make today. But first, let me take you on a journey with me through the last three and a half years.

() Phase I - it starts with surgery.

In my exposure to endometriosis patients as a medical student and then as a primary care doctor, I have always tried to find a solution to identify trusted resources for patients. A few years ago, right at the beginning of the pandemic, while the world was going upside down, I started working with a team of the best endometriosis surgeons and advocates to create a vetting system to find and introduce skilled excision surgeons. The vetting was based on a New England Journal of Medicine article and assessed surgical videos in a double-blind process.

This vetting made some people uncomfortable. However, the vetting confirmed the skills of the best surgeons in the world and introduced some new excision surgeons with a limited chance to prove themselves in a space where everyone claimed expertise without proof. This led to a transparent process that let patients make informed decisions about their excision surgeons. This innovation put us on the map and made us a significant platform in the endometriosis world.

() Phase II - add multiple disciplines

After successfully launching video vetting for surgeons, we sought other opportunities to support endo patients. Our conversations with patients taught us that the community needs vetted physical therapists (PT) who understand endometriosis and its complex care requirements. Therefore, we introduced the iCareBetter Physical Therapy vetting and built a network of PTs.

Our list of PTs kept growing, and after two years, many advocates and patients are using it daily and promoting the importance of physical therapy for endometriosis patients. The PT directory has been very helpful for patients, and we have over 120 physical therapists in almost all the US states. And thousands of patients have used iCareBetter to find a PT to help with their endometriosis.

Similarly, we added urologists, dietitians, and pain specialists so patients can use iCareBetter for most of their endo-related issues.

() Phase III - Artificial Intelligence for endometriosis

Right after the launch of Chat-GPT and the excitement around artificial intelligence (AI), we launched an AI-powered chat tool called endometriosis.AI . This created massive excitement, and many patients started using it. As a result, we ran out of server capacity within three days after launch and had to shut it down to avoid going into debt for server costs. As I am speaking with you, thousands of patients have used it and keep using it to acquire information about endometriosis. With the launch of endometriosis.ai, we made endometriosis the first disease community to have its specialized AI discussion. This was in sharp contrast with the history of endometriosis, which is always among the last diseases to be considered in other situations, such as surgical tools, medications, and others.

Moreover, we have published hundreds of articles and interviews to create an education hub for endometriosis.

We currently have over 200 providers in our network, and 30,000 patients use our services each month.

I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved.

()Phase VI - Begins iCareBetter Centers for Long-Term Care.

One question that patients commonly asked us was, “Where can I go before surgery or after surgery for long-term care?”
We searched the medical community for the right centers to help with this long-term care. Our non-negotiable criteria were simple: These centers should not dismiss patients and avoid putting endo patients on hormones as “the cure for endo.”

To my frustration and shock, no center expressed interest in seeing more endometriosis patients. We even purchased the emails of ten thousand OBGYNs in the US and invited them to join our network and support endo patients. Not even one ObGyn responded positively to the invite to see more endometriosis patients. Except for our excision surgeons, no one wanted to deal with endometriosis patients in their practice. It was a heartbreaking realization for all of us.

From a patient’s perspective, they need a care team that is in their corner and does not get tired of them after four or five visits because the pain is still there. A team that sits and thinks with the patient and tries to problem-solve with the patients as a team member. This team should map out the options, what has been tried, and what is left to be tested. A team that patients can go to four weeks, four months, or four years after surgery to complain that the pain is back.” This team, instead, thoroughly evaluates patients for other pain generators or a recurrence of endometriosis. A care team that believes in patients and helps them connect with the right specialist for their gastrointestinal, urinary, neurological, and other symptoms.

We tried several solutions to create this care team with other centers and groups, but there was a complete lack of interest and empathy, as it has always been with endometriosis.

Therefore, we decided to build these centers ourselves. With that, I am proud to announce that we are launching the first iCareBetter Endometriosis Center in sunny California. It will be at 6621 Bay Laurel Place, Suite A, Avila Beach, CA 93424. We plan to open the next centers in CA and other states.

The centers' focus will be long-term endometriosis care, so we will collaborate closely with excision surgeons, physical therapists, and other providers on iCareBetter to offer long-term multidisciplinary care to endometriosis patients. We believe that excision surgery is the gold standard of treatment for endometriosis, and we also believe that patients need an ongoing care plan and monitoring after excision surgery, even if the best surgeons in the world do it. iCareBetter centers will be the long-term care center for patients before and after excision surgery.

Our first center in Central California will be ready to see patients on February 20th, and we will offer in-person and virtual services. The next ones are being prepared, and we will announce their launch soon. If you want to ensure you secure your place before we run out of space, join the waitlist by filling out the form below. Also, if you want to be among the first ones to know about iCareBetter centers when we come to your area, please use the link below to add your name to the waitlist.

https://icarebetter.com/center/