Health IT company COMS Interactive has added several new components to its software that’s designed to reduce hospital readmissions from long-term care facilities.
Cleveland-area COMS (Clinical Outcomes Management Systems) received some help with its new software modules from the state of Ohio in the form of a $650,000 loan with a seven-year term, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
By helping nursing homes better care for their patients, COMS says its Daylight IQ disease management software package can reduce nursing facilities’ re-hospitalization rates by as much as 50 percent. Daylight IQ’s backbone is a library of disease-based protocols and procedures that help nurses tailor their care to specific patients.
CEO Ed Tromczynski said COMS has recently launched three new modules to its Daylight IQ platform: Med IQ (medication side effect management), Censys IQ (a clinical outcomes marketing engine) and Universal IQ (a universal interface connecting the platform to electronic medical records systems).
“The [state loan] is significant as early stage and nondilutive capital is key to growing the company,” Tromczynski said. “The additional product modules will attract more customers at a higher overall price point.”
In addition to the loan, COMS is in the midst of closing a $2 million round of additional investment capital, Tromczynski said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Almost one in five Medicare patients who are discharged from the hospital are readmitted within 30 days, according to the Dartmouth Atlas Project. Readmission rates are so high due largely to uncoordinated and inadequate follow-up care by physicians after discharge.
[Photo from flickr user Seansie]
