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Price transparency, virtual care and timely access to data take on many forms at ViVE 2022

Some of the overarching trends across many of the health tech companies at ViVE included making healthcare access more flexible, user friendly and more transparent as well as improving the user/customer experience.

This article is part of a series powered by HLTH and CHIME to highlight key insights and perspectives from leading executives speaking at ViVE.

StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes announced a few milestones at ViVE this week. The startup network and ecosystem marked its 400th investment in a startup and will begin making investments in companies developing ways to prevent, treat and cure Type 1 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease as part of its health moonshots.

StartUp Health Festival is featured at ViVE this week. It also has a pavilion spotlighting startups in its network.

Some of the overarching trends across many of the health tech companies at ViVE were making healthcare access more flexible, user friendly and more transparent as well as improving the user/customer experience.

HealthMe offers a price transparency solution for doctors and patients combined with a transactional tool to enable patients without insurance to pay directly for certain medical procedures. As part of the No Surprise Act medical billing legislation that bans most unexpected medical charges, Good Faith Estimate must be provided to uninsured and self-pay patients, according to a company press release, and is required any time a patient or potential patient makes a request for an estimate for the cost of care.  The information must be clear and understandable, and include appropriate billing codes.

In an interview, CEO and Founder Dr. Michael Havig, an orthopedic surgeon, likened his approach to ecommerce tech business Shopify. HealthMe’s white label payment platform is geared to physician practices across the U.S.. Havig said he initially expects the majority of users to be other orthopedic surgeons. The business helps practices price procedures and offers them a marketplace page on the website.

Havig pointed out that the company has about 300 bundles to cover everything from a simple office visit, an injection, to an MRI to physical therapy, and has 70 surgery bundles. Most of the practices it works with are based in the Southeast U.S.. The business model involves charging practices that use its software a percentage of their revenue.

“It fits any vertical. Looking ahead, we’re rapidly moving into dermatology gastroenterology, and gastroenterology, I think GI will probably be our next big market because so many people need colonoscopies,” Havig said.

Hoy Health supports easy access to primary care through telemedicine, chronic condition management and medication access with access to English and Spanish speaking healthcare professionals. CEO Mario Anglada said its company seeks to simplify the primary care experience through low cost solutions.

“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to change the model of care where primary care is 90% of your life.”

Its chronic care management program addresses diabetes, hypertension, asthma and obesity in a yearly per patient low cost plan.

AvoMD highlighted its clinical decision support platform designed to give clinicians access to evidence-based content such as guidelines, algorithms, pathways, and checklists packaged into interactive point-of-care apps that can be accessed on mobile and desktop devices with and without EHR integrations.

In an interview, AvoMD CEO and co-founder Dr. Yair Saperstein described its approach as “Lego for clinical decision support” and as a way to help clinicians gain timely, user friendly content at the point of care to avoid costly medical errors.

Last month AvoMD added Children’s Minnesota as a customer following a successful pilot. Saperstein also noted that its software would be available in Epic’s App Orchard marketplace next month.

It is also in the process of raising a “hefty” Seed round of $6 million to $7 million to help scale its business, Saperstein said.

Biofourmis highlighted its remote patient monitoring service geared to patients with chronic conditions, which it launched last month. Biofourmis Care, a first of its kind, technology-enabled care management service, delivers high-quality remote care for patients with chronic conditions.

Other companies at ViVE also had news to share.

Quil, the digital health joint venture between Comcast and Independence Health Group, rolled out Quil Assure, a connected home platform to help seniors enjoy greater independence while exercising their preference for aging in place and strengthening support from family and friends serving as caregivers, according to a news release.

The platform uses ambient sensors placed around the user’s home, which are designed to discreetly monitor daily routines. It notifies a senior’s ‘Care Circle’ of any unusual developments and is integrated with smart watches and speakers. But seniors decide how much or how little monitoring to allow, according to the release.

Health Gorilla raised $50 million in Series C  round led by SignalFire. Epsilon Health Investors, IA Capital, and Nationwide Ventures also took part in the funding round. The company plans to use the funding to expand its go-to-market strategies, accelerate product development, and enhance staffing capabilities, according to a news release. Health Gorilla launched in 2014 and offers a National Health Information Network supporting patients, payers, providers, digital health solutions, and labs to help them share health data and aggregate each patient’s clinical history in one place. Among the items on the company’s to do list this year is gaining a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) designation under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).

Get Well said it’s expanding its population health tools to help payers and at-risk providers scale their programs to engage more members. The digital member navigation solution increases the reach of its platform, widens the network of healthcare organizations Get Well helps, and improves the overall experience of people as they navigate their individual journeys to health and wellness, according to a news release.  The expansion geared to commercial health plans, at-risk providers, Medicare Advantage health plans, and Medicaid managed care organizations supports four core use cases: digital member navigation, member experience and care gap closure, digital care management, and vulnerable population engagement

Photo: tonefotografia, Getty Images

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