A Louisville-based health tech startup is about to launch its first product, which aims to reduce the time it takes for a post-acute care facility to decide whether to accept a patient from an acute care facility.
The startup, pac-IQ, is composed of three registered nurses, two of whom co-founded the company. Its referral management software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, Referral-IQ, is scheduled to distribute to customers this summer by way of a customer web portal, per a news release.
Referral-IQ can compare the patient’s clinical documentation to the standards of the post-acute care facility. It can then inform the user of any “barriers” to admission, as well as if the patient should be placed in another care facility. All information provided by the platform, which manages and accounts for all referrals, is HIPAA compliant.
If accepted, a user can alert the referral source the dates of patient can be accepted/transferred and the facility’s bed availability.
“Our system has a series of checks and balances, including Megan's Law screenings, insurance checks and a clinical review that boils down all the information we have on the patient into a type of Cliff’s Notes on who this patient is,” said Adam Tobbe, co-founder, executive vice president and COO of pac-IQ, in the release.
The platform, which will be subscription-based, has the ability to take what used to be a four- or five-hour process — or even a few days — and shrink it down to a much shorter period of time — in the vicinity of 90 minutes, which is the amount of time it takes to complete “a thorough review,” according to studies conducted by pac-IQ.
A faster processing time in the referral process time, can leave more time for patient interaction and care, according to the release.
“Referral-IQ gives the staff more face time with patients and less screen time reviewing applications,” Tobbe said in the release. “We want clinicians to be with the patient at the bedside, not sitting at a computer. If they need to be in front of a computer, we want to do it for them.”
Tobbe founded pac-IQ in January 2022 with Lee Jones, who, like Tobbe, worked as a registered nurse in the post-acute care industry. Jones began his career as an RN working in the University of Louisville Health Care system from 2012-15.
“Adam and I both have extensive experience in the post-acute care industry, including as bedside nurses,” said Jones, who serves as chief technology officer of pac-IQ, in the release. “We realized that technology could be used to streamline and improve the admissions process. We knew we had to create a company that would provide better solutions for post-acute care facilities.”
The startup was incubated within Guardian Healthcare, a privately owned healthcare organization operating more than 2,100 personal care, skilled nursing and independent living units within Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Guardian — where Tobbe, Jones and the other member of the pac-IQ’s leadership team, Tasha O’Bryan worked before embarking on pac-1Q — reported seeing “significant benefit” when it came to improving its census, referral volumes and admissions, which increased. O'Bryan serves as pac-IQ's vice president of client success.
“Guardian Healthcare is proud to have supported pac-IQ," said Michael Herald, CEO of Guardian Healthcare, in the release. “We believe in innovation and supporting companies that are dedicated to improving the post-acute care industry. We’re excited to see pac-IQ grow and continue to innovate.”
Although Referral-IQ is pac-IQ’s first product, others “are in the development pipeline,” according to a company spokesperson.
The company currently has a client base of 32 post-acute care facilities.
