A health care information startup that could notify a patient’s primary care doctor in real-time if that patient goes to the emergency room is targeting the Albany market.
Cureatr, based in New York City, works with hospital systems for free as a sort of patient registration service. It then allows providers and insurers to subscribe and get real-time notifications when patients go to the emergency room, are discharged or are transferred elsewhere.
It already works with Albany Medical Center and is now working on partnering with the other major hospital systems in the region, CEO Dr. Joe Mayer said.
“Our goal is to partner with the big hospital systems in the region and make it easier for all the providers in the community to coordinate care and ultimately do business with the big hospitals,” Mayer said.
Having this type of information could be invaluable to health care providers looking to hold down costs and improve care. Health care providers in New York are being pushed to reduce unnecessary hospitalization of Medicaid patients under a state and federal program.
Enhanced information about patient care is one piece of the puzzle as hospitals look to achieve that goal.
Mayer said Cureatr could be a key tool for health care providers and insurers to work on improving the coordination of a patient’s care and to succeed with government initiatives. One reason the company is focused on Albany is the high population of Medicaid, Medicare and dual eligible patients, Mayer said.
Cureatr is already working with more than 50 health care facilities in New York City and downstate. The company received $13 million in June in a second round of funding to scale up its product.
Mayer said the step into the Albany market is an obvious one to expand the company’s presence in New York state, which it views as a single region. He said the company will also expand into three other regions beyond New York in the coming year.
Cureatr won’t be opening an office in the Albany area, Mayer said. It is planning to hire two on-the-ground development and sales staff. He said the company plans to have active partnerships with hospital systems by early 2016.
Mayer said Cureatr is looking to partner with the region’s health information exchange, Hixny, which allows area providers to share patient information and connect with the statewide electronic health records system. He said most programs like Hixny do not have a real-time, workflow-driven notification tool.
The company is also looking to partner with some insurers in the area, such as CDPHP, Mayer said.
“Most payers have their own care management team, their own care coordination infrastructure, and are looking for tools to help them coordinate them,” he said. “You want to reduce hospitalization, reduce readmissions, reduce length of stay.”
Mayer also said the effort in the Albany region to invest in health care data analytics, with a focus on population health, appealed to Cureatr. The region has made population health, which refers to managing the wellness of a defined group, a key piece of its pitch to win $500 million in state economic development funding.
Date: November 9, 2015