Vermont Takes Unprecedented Step to Coordinate Health Care Delivery by Launching a Disruptive Information Sharing Technology with Adoption of PatientPing

Press Release | PatientPing | April 11, 2016

Google Ventures-Backed Health Tech Company Gets Nod from Vermont's State Health Care Innovation Project in Advancing Relations Between Health Care Providers to Improve Quality and Efficiency of Care

Burlington, VT / Boston, MA (April 11, 2016) – The State of Vermont is set to be the first in the nation to announce state-sponsored use of groundbreaking health information technology, PatientPing – taking historic action in remedying the trillion-dollar deficit caused partly by the fragmentation of the American health care system.

On Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at Vermont Blueprint for Health 2016 in Burlington, VT, PatientPing Founder & CEO Jay Desai, state officials and health care representatives will publicly announce the adoption of PatientPing across in-state health care providers. PatientPing aims to enhance medical information transparency between once disconnected health care providers by implementing an information sharing system that will cut across silos to improve patient care.

“Our state has come together in this partnership to launch a progressive initiative dedicated to improving the way Vermonters receive care,” said Lawrence Miller, Senior Advisor, Chief of Health Care Reform at the Office of the Governor, State of Vermont. “We are leveraging our successful work to date to support clinicians in transforming how they deliver care. This new and innovative information sharing system will help support clinicians’ efforts to more effectively and efficiently deliver care.”

The changing incentives of the Affordable Care Act and state policy have compelled providers to work with one another when sharing patients. These groundbreaking collaborations are bringing together historically disparate health care facilities in regional provider communities to more efficiently deliver high quality care wherever patients go.

PatientPing is fueling this transition by providing a critical missing link for providers operating in this new environment: the ability to be notified instantly when a patient is receiving care anywhere - inside or outside of their facility or health system - and the ability to collaborate with providers across the full continuum of care to ensure the best health outcomes for patients.

"The average elderly patient sees seven different care providers per year, and those with chronic conditions can see more than 25. We've all dealt with how frustrating it can be when information is not passing between those providers and they aren't working well together to serve us and our loved ones," said PatientPing Founder and CEO, Jay Desai. "When providers ping each other as their patients travel through the health care continuum - emergency room to hospital to rehab to home care - it's a radically simple way to stitch together disparate providers onto one team. Seeing a whole state's providers come together on one platform is magical, and we're proud to support Vermont's journey to improve the quality of care for all its residents."

Upon joining PatientPing, providers receive “Pings,” real-time notifications whenever their patients receive care at any facility that is a part of the national PatientPing community. At the facility where patients are getting care, providers receive care instructions that include contact information for others on the patient’s care team, as well as patient visit histories. By sharing this information in real time, providers can seamlessly coordinate their patient’s care.

The robust program is supported by hospital admission, discharge, and transfer data from Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL), which manages the state’s health information exchange. "We are thrilled to partner with PatientPing and the State of Vermont to improve health care for Vermont residents. Building on the capabilities of the statewide Vermont Health Information Exchange, we are making health care encounter information available so that any clinician can be notified when their patient receives care from another provider,” said John K. Evans MHA, FACHE, President and CEO of VITL.

PatientPing's nationwide community includes more than 12,000 providers and has a presence in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania and now Vermont. PatientPing recently received $9.6M in funding from Google Ventures, F-Prime Capital (the VC funds of FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity), with participation from First Round Capital and SV Angel. PatientPing is rapidly accelerating its nationwide expansion so that any two or more providers that share patients anywhere in the country can simply coordinate with one another.

About PatientPing:
PatientPing is a Boston-based health technology company that is building a national community of engaged providers who are sharing information, coordinating care, and working together to get patients healthier faster. By joining the PatientPing community, providers get notified in real-time when their patients receive care elsewhere and are able to share care instructions with other providers. PatientPing's national care coordination community includes physicians, nurses, case managers, and care coordinators across hospitals, emergency departments, accountable care organizations (ACOs), physician practices, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation centers, payers and other providers. By connecting care teams through real-time information sharing, PatientPing enables providers to deliver higher quality and more cost effective care, improving patient outcomes and experience. For more information, please visit www.patientping.com.