The Atlanta-based company has raised $5.2 million in seed funding in a financing led by First Round Capital and Threshold Ventures, as it looks to continue to build out its technology.
Serial technology entrepreneur Aaron Patzer has launched a new digital health startup called Vital which is trying to use machine learning and natural language processing to help make emergency room operations more efficient.
The Atlanta-based company has raised $5.2 million in seed funding in a financing round led by First Round Capital and Threshold Ventures as it looks to continue to build out its technology.
Other investors in the company include Bragiel Brothers, Meridian Street Capital, Refactor Capital, Clover Health CEO Vivek Garipalli and Flatiron Health co-founders Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg.
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Vital’s software is meant to make better use of clinical and EHR data by creating clearer workflows for clinicians and highlighting higher risk patients for more efficient triage.
Patzer, who serves as Vital’s CEO, is perhaps best known for creating personal finance site Mint.com, which he later sold to Intuit in 2009 for $170 million.
He started Vital in 2016 with his brother-in-law Justin Schrager, the director of emergency medicine at Emory University Hospital, who serves as the company’s chief medical officer.
The startup’s technology can check patients in and gather symptoms and information from patients while they wait creating a more streamlined care delivery experience.
Vital’s software uses these data sources, along with vital sign changes, lab results and clinical notes to determine a patient’s probability of admission and readmission, potential necessary tests as well as their Emergency Severity Index level.
Drawing from the retail software experience, Vital also can keep patients appraised of wait times, as well as the next clinical step for their treatment.
The introduction of EHRs to health systems was mandated by federal law, but many front-line clinicians have griped about the usability of the software, which has been identified as a major source of physician burnout.
Patzer positions Vital as a way to make clinical data more actionable, with the company’s technology integrating with major EHR vendors like Cerner, Epic and athenahealth through the HL7/FHIR Interface.
“The HITECH Act was well-intentioned, but now hospitals rely on outdated, slow, and inefficient software – and nowhere is it more painful than in the emergency room,” Patzer said in a statement.
“Doctors and nurses often put more time into paperwork and data entry than patient care. Vital uses smart, easy tech to reverse that, cutting wait times in half, reducing provider burnout and saving hospitals millions of dollars.”
Date: May 07, 2019
Source: MedCityNews
