Chicago startup PreparedHealth is expanding its health care app to more providers in Chicago as the company continues to grow.
PreparedHealth's app enTouch is a platform where multiple health care providers working on one patient can communicate and coordinate care. Primary doctors, skilled nurses, physical therapists and home health care workers---all assisting the same patient---can see the work that's being done and receive updates in real time. The startup provides data back to the organizations on what is and isn't working for the patient, with the goal of reducing readmission rates.
PreparedHealth also uses artificial intelligence called DINA, which stands for digital nursing assistant, that can intervene and notify care providers when a patient might be a good candidate for hospice, for example. The startup is simplifying a communication process that is largely done via fax machine, phone and even in-person meetings between health care providers.
"It's a pretty archaic process," PreparedHealth CMO Iqbal Brainch said.
Now, PreparedHealth is providing one centralized platform where all stakeholders can connect and better serve a patient. Launched in 2015, the startup has raised $4 million to date from investors like Chicago Ventures and the Pritzker Group. It has been fully live in Philadelphia, and recently announced it's expanding to its hometown Chicago, its second full-city rollout.
PreparedHealth had been piloting its enTouch app with the Centegra Health System in Illinois, and Brainch said the hospital system will expand its use of the app as it makes a bigger push throughout the state.
"All of [a patient's] caregivers are able to see what's been going on with that patient in ... a Facebook-like feed," Brainch said. "A closed feed where all the care is apparent and available to everyone."
PreparedHealth now has 20 employees, up from just eight last May.
