Health IT, Startups

Cincinnati startup Halo Communications launches patient coordinator tool

Halo Communications' clinical communication platform includes features like the new patient coordinator tool, as well as secure messaging and a schedule management tool.

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Clinicians don’t only need to communicate with their patients. They also need to talk to each other.

Halo Communications (which was formerly known as Doc Halo) wants to improve that process. Rather than utilizing pagers, clinicians can use the company’s cloud-based platform to securely communicate and access the information they need.

The Cincinnati, Ohio-based startup recently launched its patient coordinator product, which allows doctors and nurses to focus mobile and collective care around each patient. The tool is available within Halo’s clinical communication platform.

During a phone interview, Halo Communications co-founder and CEO Jose Barreau explained that the patient coordinator product can help clinicians keep an accurate account of who’s monitoring a given patient. “There’s a constant rotation around who’s taking care of patients,” he said, mentioning shift changes and doctors covering for each other.

With the tool, handoffs can be initiated automatically, and care team members are adjusted as shifts rotate. Additionally, messages through the patient coordinator product can be optionally synced back to the EMR for documentation purposes.

Barreau and Amit Gupta, both oncologists, founded Halo Communications in 2010. Over time, the company’s product evolved from secure messaging for doctors into a full communications platform that includes messaging, scheduling and more.

The startup’s platform is available on mobile apps and on desktop. It can integrate with a health system’s existing EHR system, scheduling system and nurse call system. In addition to its patient coordinator tool, the Halo platform itself includes a variety of other features, such as secure messaging, a schedule management tool and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calling.

Barreau said his company has over 200 systems using its platform. These include Atrium Health, University of Maryland Medical Center and University Hospitals in Cleveland.

When asked what differentiates Halo from other competitors in the space, Barreau noted that his startup does system-wide deployments and works across all departments. “What sets us apart is being a system-wide platform on the cloud across the entire system,” he said.

Back in 2017, the company, which also has an office in Columbus, Ohio, secured $11 million in Series A funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round, and Refinery Ventures also participated.

Photo: Creative-Touch, Getty Images

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