A Youngstown startup that set out to help businesses incorporate video into their communications has narrowed its focus on the patient education space — for now.
Two-year-old Via680 allows hospitals to create customizable online portals that pull together video, text documents and user feedback to help patients and their families prepare for upcoming hospital stays or procedures.
The software, called intelliSling, can take the place of three-ring binders stuffed with hundreds of printed pages of information about topics ranging from parking during a hospital visit to proper hand washing before surgery to what to expect after an operation. (The company was formerly known as BizVeo and owes its new name in part to the interstate that stretches through Youngstown.)
How Artera is Using Agentic AI to Humanize Patient Care
Artera President Tom McIntyre talks about the practical application of AI in healthcare.
One key feature of intelliSling is a survey that patients are asked to fill out after watching their videos. If their answers indicate they didn’t understand a key piece of information, a notice is sent to a hospital administrator who can call the patient to clear up the confusion.
“It truly has changed the way you’re able to interact, exchange information and get patients on a course towards wellness,” said CEO Tony Deascentis, a veteran of another Youngstown technology firm Turning Technologies. Like Turning Technologies, Via680 is affiliated with the widely praised Youngstown Business Incubator, which has received some positive press recently from Inc. Magazine and Business Week.
So far the eight-employee company has garnered a handful of customers, most notably Youngstown-based hospital Humility of Mary Health Partners (HMHP).
HMHP has been using Via680’s software for about nine months with heart surgery patients, said Barbara Rombach, a practice manager for several groups at the hospital. HMHP uses the software to educate heart-surgery patients and their families about many details involved in the process, such as when to arrive at the hospital, and how family members should help patients get in and out of cars after the surgery.
The New Blueprint: How Clever Care Health Plan is Scaling Its Member Experience [Video]
MedCity News was at the Vive conference and spoke with executives who shared their insights for the healthcare industry.
“It’s a wonderful product and a great tool,” Rombach said. “It takes a lot of the scariness out of the whole process.”
With so much health-related “misinformation” a few clicks away on the Internet, Rombach likes that the software helps HMHP spread the correct clinical information to patients. The hospital likes Via680’s software so much, it’s planning to begin using it with orthopedics patients, Rombach said.
That’s no doubt music to Deascentis’ ears. But aside from signing up more customers, what really would excite him is luring some investment in the company. Via680 would use the cash to ramp up sales and expand to other industries, like banking and retail. “We’re looking for one or two angel investors to fuel our growth,” he said, though he declined to specify a targeted dollar amount.