Health IT vendor Allscripts (NASDAQ:MDRX) has agreed to acquire HealthGrid Holding Co., the developer of a mobile patient engagement platform called CareNotify.
Chicago-based Allscripts said it expects to tightly integrate the Orlando, Fla.-based HealthGrid platform’s capabilities into its FollowMyHealth platform, adding functionality that would enable providers to reach 100 percent of their patient populations without requiring patients to sign up for a portal.
Raj Toleti founded HealthGrid in 2014 with a vision of developing mobile solutions that would transform the way providers connect and engage with patients across the care continuum, according to the company web site. Four years later, HealthGrid says it counts more than 15,000 provider clients, more than 350 healthcare facilities, and more than 100,000 new activations daily.
In a press release about the acquisition, Allscripts noted that patient portal usage across the healthcare industry has been quite low (as low as 30 percent in hospital-owned practices, and 10 to 15 percent in physician-owned practices), which has made it critical for health IT vendors to bring an enhanced approach to patient-engagement solution design. It said HealthGrid has helped independent providers, hospitals and health systems to dramatically improve patient interactions and satisfaction.
Allscripts’ goal is to offer the most comprehensive patient engagement solutions and enable providers to stay connected with their patients in pre-care, point-of-care and post-care settings, helping care teams to collaborate with patients in real time across the continuum.
Driven by a complex rules engine based on clinical protocols, integrated functionality would enable intelligent outreach by providers to connect to patients at the precise, optimal time in the care process, keeping patients engaged, informed and supported throughout their care experience.
Additional, enhanced capabilities Allscripts plans to introduce to FollowMyHealth upon closing of the acquisition include appointment confirmation and waitlist notification functionality, post-discharge surveys, and more robust tools to assist providers in meeting critical regulatory requirements.
Strengthening the FollowMyHealth platform advances Allscripts’ EHR-agnostic approach, said Solutions Development Executive Vice President Jim Hewitt. “You don’t have to have an Allscripts EHR to make this work. Engaging consumers in their own health is critical to achieving a healthier tomorrow, and enabling meaningful connections between patients and providers is a crucial piece of fostering successful healthcare delivery,” he said in a prepared statement. “It’s a role Allscripts is proud to play—to improve the way patients engage with their own health and their clinicians is to fuel the progress of healthcare itself.”
