This post has been updated with comments from Zipnosis CEO Jon Pearce
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In a nod to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimation that 8.1 million people have diabetes but are undiagnosed, Zipnosis has set up a care coordination service with Fairview Health Services to prevent chronic conditions including diabetes, according to a news release. The virtual care platform is intended to make it possible to do a remote diagnosis of chronic conditions and speed up interventions by doctors. The collaboration fits in with plans Zipnosis CEO Jon Pearce shared with MedCity News earlier this year when the digital health company closed a $17 million Series A round.
Fairview Health Services, a nonprofit integrated health system, had already established itself as one of several partners with Zipnosis and an investor. Here’s how the previous version of Zipnosis’ platform worked. Users would pay a service fee and respond to a questionnaire. An algorithm would process their responses. The platform used that information to produce a clinical note, and would direct the note to the most appropriate physician. The idea is that patients get their query addressed in a few minutes through email, or by phone or video interaction if necessary.
In emailed responses to questions, Pearce said the platform has changed a lot since January. Zipnosis now provides it white-labeled services to 20 health system end users across the country. While diagnoses and treatment plans are promised in an hour or less, response time averages about 9 minutes in most cases.
In the news release, Pearce said the latest collaboration with Fairview has added virtual health screenings with laboratory access and patient education “that can help solve the growing problem of undiagnosed chronic disease.” If lab tests are needed, patients are provided with a “ZipTicket,” which functions like a virtual boarding pass, enables instant referrals to laboratory testing at nearby lab locations, leveraging trusted health system providers, the news release noted.
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Lab tests range from strep throat tests for acute care to diabetes and cholesterol blood work for chronic conditions (and even blood pressure checks to screen for hypertension), Pearce said in an email.
Once the lab results are available—24 to 48 hours following testing—a board-certified provider employed by Fairview reviews the findings in combination with the interview results and makes a recommendation. Patients receive a summary of the findings via email, along with customized educational material to support adherence to the recommended plan.
Pearce said in January that Zipnosis’ care coordination service was initially aimed at 90 simple acute primary care conditions, such as sinus infections, bladder infections, pink eye, and colds. He said that by the end of the first quarter of 2016, the Minneapolis-based business would begin to add chronic conditions to the illnesses the company’s platform covers.
“This launch with Fairview to initially use these screenings for its employee population is a stepping stone as related to future capabilities of the Zipnosis platform,” Pearce said in an email. “Using the power of online adaptive patient interviews and evidence-based provider pathways to make diagnoses along with the ZipTicket, we are transforming how chronic disease screening and diagnoses can occur—more efficiently, more conveniently, and potentially more accurately.”
The chronic disease prevention collaboration by Zipnosis and Fairview underscores the interest in preventing diabetes or accelerating care for those people who may have it. Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made a policy shift to reimburse for chronic disease prevention.
Asked about the timing of its latest collaboration with Fairview in light of the CMS policy shift Pearce said, “The time is right from a market perspective, from the perspective of helping patients and providers, and due to the value-based care environment with an emphasis on improving the health of populations, with preventive healthcare one major way to do that. While the CMS move didn’t specifically spur our expansion into chronic disease, the timing isn’t coincidental, since the effective diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions—including early interventions—is an important part of the healthcare landscape currently.”
Fairview Medical Group Vice President of Medical Practice, Dr. Dang Tran, said in the news release that the service will make it possible to diagnose chronic conditions sooner and to recommend immediate interventions if a problem is found. That’s significant for people diagnosed with diabetes, since the disease can cause devastating and costly complications if not managed properly.
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