Friday, January 20, 2017
GetWellNetwork®, Inc., the leader in Interactive Patient Care™ (IPC) solutions, today announced the acquisition of Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Seamless Medical Systems. The acquisition of Seamless extends GetWellNetwork's fully integrated cross-continuum patient engagement platform to more than 150 clinics nationwide. Seamless is GetWellNetwork's third acquisition in the past 30 months, following the purchase of Marbella Technologies in July 2014 and Skylight Healthcare Systems in September 2015.
Seamless enhances GetWellNetwork's outpatient offering with a mobile, digital patient-intake platform that provides patient onboarding and retention for integrated health systems, federally qualified health centers, independent practices and retail health clinics. The cloud-based Seamless solution automates online appointment scheduling, pre-registration and check-in, as well as insurance verification, payment collection and patient education in multiple languages.
"Value-based care demands cross-continuum innovation, and we continue to move aggressively to ensure all patients, families and providers have the best possible experience in every setting," said Michael O'Neil, founder and chief executive officer of GetWellNetwork. "As health care organizations shift to advanced payment methods and risk-sharing, and as health consumers have greater choice in where they go for care, it's more important than ever to keep patients and families engaged, in network and on the path to good health. We are at the forefront of the era of precision engagement, targeting each moment of the care journey with a highly differentiated and personalized experience."
With reimbursements increasingly tied to quality outcomes through legislation such as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), health systems are driving towards value-based care as consumers are turning to lower-acuity, lower-cost settings. According to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the volume of inpatient discharges fell 19.2 percent from 2006 to 2014, while outpatient visits rose 44.2 percent. The Seamless solution helps meet the need for high-quality and efficient outpatient care, logging one million patient encounters across 25 states in health systems, medical practices and retail clinics.
Seamless enables patients to schedule and move efficiently through their visits, reducing door-to-door time by 40 percent, decreasing registration time by 80 percent and eliminating paperwork through the digital capture of standardized forms and information. The solution allows providers to manage the patient queue in real time, and integrates with EMR/PMS systems to streamline patient communications and data entry at the point of care and beyond the office setting. Providers also use Seamless to deliver patients personalized health education and surveys regarding their care experience.
"As a multi-site and multi-specialty organization, we use Seamless to standardize processes across locations and to increase the safety and integrity of our patient data," said Andilyn Brockert, LPN, field operations systems manager at Boulder Community Health. "Our staff appreciate the time savings around prepping charts and scanning documents, and patients are always pleasantly surprised at the ease of using the system. Seamless makes it possible for us to remain ahead of the curve with the industry shift to quality reimbursement, and we look forward to implementing new functionalities in the future."
"Our aim has always been to help providers deliver efficient, quality care and an exceptional customer experience," said Anthony Brooke, chief technology officer at Seamless Medical Systems. "As the market leader, GetWellNetwork has a clear record of growth and innovation, and Seamless will expand the impact of their patient platform to new locations and in new ways that transform care for millions of people."
