FRISCO, Texas March 27, 2012 - ZeOmega, Inc., the premier provider of software solutions for collaborative care management, announced today that Lovelace Health Plan, a part of Lovelace Health System of Albuquerque, N.M.,has selected the ZeOmegaTM JivaTM software solution as part of its integrated care management strategy to improve the overall health of nearly 200,000 people across New Mexico. The implementation of Jiva is currently underway.

 

"As a health plan attached to a health system, we needed a solution that could facilitate close collaboration with physicians and hospitals in the Lovelace Health system," said Dr. John Cruickshank, Chief Medical Officer for Lovelace Health Plan. "Jiva's provider portal and its capabilities to engage providers in the care collaboration process was clearly more advanced than the other solutions we evaluated."

 

"Another key consideration was the ability for the solution to support our ICD-10 readiness and transition strategy," added Dr. Cruickshank. "We need a solution that can support both ICD-9 and ICD-10 and enable us to transition to ICD-10 smoothly over a period of time. Of all the solutions we evaluated, Jiva was best suited to our needs."
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NEW YORK CITY (March 27, 2012) – Hello Health® day announced that it has signed 13 new practices across 10 states to the Hello Health Patient Management Platform which increases the number of patients who can subscribe to the Platform by more than 20,000 patients. Hello Health helps doctors generate an independent revenue stream, at no cost to the practice, while making the transition from paper to electronic medical records.

 

Hello Health’s Patient Management Platform makes it possible for independent primary care practitioners to engage with their patients via email and web chats while also providing patients with ready access to medical records. This patient benefit also becomes a new revenue stream as it is supported by a nominal patient-paid fee.
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New York, N.Y.— February 23, 2012—Technology industry veteran Bill Conroy has joined the board of Phreesia, the patient check-in company. Conroy’s leadership and exposure to the healthcare technology industry will be an invaluable resource as the company expands its national footprint and continues to deliver innovative solutions to help medical practices increase cash flow and save staff time.

 

"Phreesia is thrilled to welcome Bill to our board. We have great respect for Bill’s deep knowledge of the IT market and his proven track record in corporate strategy and operations," says Phreesia CEO Chaim Indig. "Bill is coming onboard at a very exciting time at Phreesia. 2011 was a big growth year for us, and as we continue to innovate and help practices increase their bottom line, we remain on the leading edge of the market and continue to grow at a rapid rate."

 

Conroy is a longtime IT executive with broad exposure to the healthcare industry. At Initiate Systems, Inc., an international leader in data management solutions, Conroy served for eight years as the CEO, president and member of the board of directors, until he led the sale of the company to IBM in March 2010. During Conroy’s tenure, Initiate’s revenue grew 700 percent, with a compound annual growth rate of 50 percent, and in 2009, he was awarded the CEO of the Year award from the Illinois Technology Association in recognition of his achievements at the company.
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BOSTON (February 14, 2012) – Three of the nation’s leading Blue health plans that work with more than 70,000 physicians and hospitals to deliver care to more than 11 million people announced today they are partnering with health IT provider Lumeris Corp. to acquire NaviNet. NaviNet is the nation’s largest real-time communication network for physicians, hospitals and health insurers. Lumeris and the three Blues—Highmark, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon) and Independence Blue Cross (IBC)—have signed an agreement to acquire NaviNet for an undisclosed price. The transaction is expected to close within 30 days, subject to customary closing conditions.

 

The partners believe that fully collaborative relationships among physicians, hospitals, insurers and patients are essential to increase the quality of care, lower costs and increase patient and clinician satisfaction in the U.S. health care system. The partnership will build on NaviNet’s best-in-class network for transactions among health care providers and insurers by launching an unprecedented initiative to deliver critical information and applications to drive accountable, value-based health care.
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FRISCO, Texas February 1, 2012- ZeOmega Inc., the leading provider of software solutions for collaborative care management, and Blue Cross Of Idaho announced today that Blue Cross of Idaho has successfully deployed the Jiva software solution by ZeOmega as part of its integrated care management strategy to improve the overall health of its more than 600,000 members. The implementation, which took approximately nine months, was completed in December 2011.

 

"We are pleased with the ZeOmega team's professionalism, commitment and response during this fast-paced implementation. The implementation focused on integrating our care management workflows, including behavioral management and enabling seamless data exchange with claims and decision support tools." said Lance Hatfield, CIO for Blue Cross of Idaho.

 

"We now have a comprehensive view of our members' health profile including demographics, medical history, claims, diagnoses, and privacy preferences," according to Bruce Croffy, MD, Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross of Idaho. "We can now collaborate seamlessly with our members and providers ultimately enabling us to deliver on our vision of improved healthcare for our members."
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Healthcare cost transparency company Change Healthcare Corporation today announced the second closing of its Series C round of funding with investment from Blue Cross Blue Shield Venture Partners (BCBSVP) and Sandbox Industries. Mitsui & Co. GlobalInvestment, Inc. (MGI) along with the West Health Investment Fund, LLC, and existing investor, Solidus Co., invested in an initial Series C closing in September 2011. In total, the Series C investment of $9.3 million exceeds the Company’s initial fundraising goals.

 

BCBSVP is a corporate venture fund sponsored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and a group of 24 independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. BCBSVP and Sandbox Industries partner to invest in promising emerging companies of strategic relevance to Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

 

“BCBSVP seeks to identify the technologies that will be critical to the future of the healthcare industry – for providers, employers, payers and consumers,” said Drew Turitz, Managing Director, Sandbox Industries. “Change Healthcare Corporation is the best company we’ve seen that offers true cost transparency in a way that engages members and drives savings for both consumers and plan sponsors.”
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BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, managed by Sandbox Industries, has joined venture investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Camden Partners in a $70 million investment in Essence Group Holdings Corp. In July, Essence Group, which provide collaboration, reimbursement, clinical informatics and information technology services for healthcare companies, announced a $61 million infusion from Camden Partners and Kleiner Perkins. Most of the new capital will be invested in EGHC’s subsidiary Lumeris Corp., which is focused on software and services for accountable health care delivery systems.
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The Minneapolis start-up Bloom Health said Tuesday that it has a suite of new owners who give it the sweep it needs as it aims to create a national private health insurance exchange.

 

WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest insurer by enrollment, and two Blue Cross Blue Shield nonprofits paid an undisclosed sum for a majority stake in Bloom, which was founded in 2009 by entrepreneur Abir Sen.

 

"This is very exciting because it expands our approach in a bunch of different areas," said Sen, who will stay on as CEO. "Suddenly if I'm an employer with employees in all states, I have a very attractive option where I can go to a defined contribution approach and my employees have plans regardless of the state they live in."

 

Bloom Health bills itself as part insurance broker, part health finance adviser and part human resources department. Companies working with Bloom can set aside a certain amount for workers' health care. Employees use Bloom's Web-based questionnaire to choose a plan that best fits their family's health care needs.
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FRISCO, Texas -- August 30, 2011 -- ZeOmega Inc., the leading provider of software solutions for collaborative care management, announced today that it has recently received a growth equity investment from BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, L.P. and Sandbox Industries. The investment will support ZeOmega in ongoing product development and marketing of its Jiva™ care management software.

 

Jiva is ZeOmega's web-based integrated care management platform, which transforms traditional episodic-based care management into proactive and collaborative population healthcare management through electronic health record-enabled care plans, point-of-care tools, decision support, analytics and user-configurable workflows for care management. Jiva enables the integration of workflows across the care management continuum, automates workflows intelligently based on client business rules and provides more effective collaboration between the payer, its providers and members. 

Bloom Private Exchange Platform™ Enables Health Plans to Personalize Group Benefit Offerings Through Defined Contribution Solution
MINNEAPOLIS, July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bloom Health announced today that two health plans have begun to sell and market health benefits to employers through the company's newly-launched private exchange. The private exchange is currently available through the largest insurer in Michigan and through Medica, a Minnesota-based health plan.
The Bloom Private Exchange Platform™ is a turnkey solution that allows health plans to offer their employer clients a defined contribution solution to predict health care costs and provide personalized benefits in a group market setting. This new offering geared toward health plans further enhances Bloom Health's suite of products, tools and services that help employers responsibly engage their workforces in making their own health benefit purchasing decisions.
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MINNEAPOLIS, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Bloom Health hosted "Defined Contribution: Powering the Private Exchange," a novel roundtable discussion about the changing landscape and future of health benefits since passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
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Business communication systems integrator Datapoint, an accredited partner of speech analytics expert Nexidia (News - Alert), has formed a five-year managed services contract with O2 (News - Alert), a pioneer in business and consumer communications. The contract will ultimately link O2’s entire lineup of U.K. core contact centers to offer O2 customers rapid, competent service by phone and text messaging, and integrate into other communication channels, such as social media, in the future.
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Nexidia’s award-winning speech analytics technology is in use by a range of major companies, but now the audio search and review software provider has added another prominent organization to its growing repertoire of customers. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has installed Nexidia’s Audio Discovery software for the review of audio content produced in financial industry investigations.
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NEW YORK—May 10, 2011—Phreesia today announced that CEO and co-founder, Chaim Indig is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2011 New York Award finalist. According to Ernst & Young LLP, the awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Indig was selected as a finalist from nearly 70 nominations by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on June 8, 2011 at the Marriott Marquis.
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Fed up with the unpredictable cost of health insurance for his small business, Mike Sarafolean last year made a dramatic change: Instead of picking a plan to offer workers, he now sends them to a "private exchange" or marketplace where they compare and choose their own insurance. And the amount his company pays toward coverage is capped.
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One of the most recent apps in orthopaedics is the innovative OrthoPod, developed by InVivoLink (Nashville). The app, which is tied to the hospital network and serves as the mobile arm of the company’s implant registry, could change the way hospitals, surgeons, and manufacturers work together. “The essence of this application is to find efficiencies for surgeons in their daily workflow,” says Ryan Wells, CEO of InVivoLink. “We all know that they aren’t going to be blessed with any more time, so how can you reduce their workload and time on a daily basis [is important].”
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Successful Product Enhancements, Increased Investor Interest and Strategic Partnerships Illustrate Market Need for Leading Patient Check-In Solution

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2011 PRNewswire -- Phreesia, the leader in patient check-in solutions, saw significant corporate developments on many fronts this past year, including substantial interest from the investment community, strategic partnerships with key organizations and important enhancements to the PhreesiaPad, the company's flagship product.

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ATLANTA, GA – February 8, 2011 – Nexidia, the market-leading provider of audio search and speech analytics solutions, today announced the addition of Ryan Pellet to the company's executive management team. Having nearly two decades of experience in the customer experience and customer analytics markets, Pellet will join Nexidia as senior vice president responsible for extending the use of speech analytics as a critical business analytics solution to help corporations maximize their investments in outsourced contact center activities. Mr. Pellet was a founding member of Accenture’s global customer relationship management practice, where he was an executive. He also founded Finali, an analytics services company which was acquired by Convergys in 2004. At Convergys, Pellet was vice president of the Global Consulting Services Group and the Center for Applied Customer Analytics, where he worked with clients to implement best practice methods for contact center operations using data collected from customer interactions.

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ATLANTA, GA – February 7, 2011 – Nexidia, the market-leading provider of audio search and speech analytics solutions, today announced that Verizon’s landline business unit is extending its use of Nexidia’s OnDemand solution into a three-year engagement. Nexidia OnDemand provides access to the full suite of capabilities in Nexidia's market-leading Enterprise Speech Intelligence solutions (ESI), which Verizon has utilized since 2009 to capture customer/agent interactions and to study these conversations for business intelligence that improves their customer’s experience while reducing costs in the contact center.

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AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capson Physicians Insurance Company (Capson), a new medical malpractice insurance provider offering physicians exceptional policy value through a direct, online application, underwriting and purchase model, today announced its services are available to Texas, Kentucky and Idaho healthcare providers. Expansion into several additional states will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

Capson streamlines the process of acquiring medical malpractice insurance for healthcare providers. Capson shortens the lengthy process of applying for insurance to as little as 10 minutes by eliminating the typical 15-page application and providing physicians a simple, fast and sophisticated online application, underwriting and purchase model. While the tedious paperwork has been removed, the coverage itself remains robust—comparable to or potentially broader than existing coverage—enabling healthcare providers to lower their premiums without compromising the quality of coverage or customer service. Capson’s customer service team offers physicians unparalleled support at every step in the process.

 

By allowing physicians to deal directly with the insurance company, Capson is able to pass along the savings that come from avoiding the high operating costs, agents’ commissions and inefficient processes of traditional insurance providers. Capson is able to offer physicians savings of as much as 20 percent off their existing policies.

 

“Capson has come up with some truly innovative ideas and offers a great deal of advantages to physicians. It’s not just the direct selling of insurance to physicians. I believe the Capson approach will decrease the frequency of claims being filed, and that alone will allow physicians to be more productive,” said cardiologist Dr. John A. Dieck. “Quality improvements made through CapsonCare will increase the level of care and satisfaction for patients, and, ultimately, physician satisfaction in the practice of medicine.”

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Nexidia, the market-leading provider of audio search and speech analytics solutions, today announced that the company has received over $23 million in new equity funding to extend business growth and technology leadership in its key markets. The funding will be used to further develop and protect original research in its core technology and intellectual property, and to increase the company’s operational capacity in the contact center and other markets worldwide. New investors in this round are BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, Sandbox Industries and HarbourVest Partners. They join existing investors HIG Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Boston Millennia Partners, Morgan Stanley and Cordova Ventures, all of whom added to their equity stake in the company.

 

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National Venture Capital Association formed Medical Innovation and Competitiveness (MedIC) Coalition. This is an alliance comprised of both venture capital firms and their life sciences portfolio companies. The MedIC Coalition will lobby for policies and regulations that advance U.S. medical innovation and protect the country’s global leadership position in the life sciences industry.

 

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Phreesia will be participating in the Blue National Summit scheduled for October 5-8, 2010 at the Hilton Chicago Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. They will be at Booth #1117. Stop by to meet the team and check out the latest Health Plan solutions

 

Myca and HelloHealth blog about the importance of linking high deductible health plans with high performing primary care to reduce overall system costs and improve care.

 

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Bloom Health today announced five Twin Cities-based companies have deployed its health benefits administration solution — taking the worry and hassle out of open enrollment for the coming benefit year.

 

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A Nashville-based company launched this spring is already building a roster of clients interested in the improved workflow of orthopaedic implantation procedures such as hip and knee replacements. Called InVivoLink (IVL), the company offers three Web-based applications targeting physicians, hospitals and manufacturers – and then helps them communicate with each other.

 

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A member of the Fund Team, Tom Hawes was quoted in an article about FCC and FDA regulations of Wireless Medical Technology.

"Joint FCC/FDA Meeting on Wireless Medical Technology Drives Discussion Among Health Care, Technology, Government, Academic and Investment Communities"

 

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A real-time win for evidence based medicine…InVivoLink, LLC (IVL) is partnering with Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital (IOH) to have the latter party use the IVL platform to collect clinical, financial and operational data directly from the operating room at the point of service. The information includes details on joint implants, patient characteristics, physician utilization, and more.

 

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The National Venture Capital Association published a report on Venture Capital Returns. A gradually recovering exit market helped drive shorter-term venture capital performance upward as of the end of the first quarter of 2010 while the 10-year horizon continued to decline, according to the Cambridge Associates U.S. Venture Capital Index®, the performance benchmark of the National Venture Capital Association. Certain time horizons saw an increase in returns from the previous quarter, reflecting the opening of the IPO window and a record level of merger and acquisition activity in the quarter. However, the improvement was not enough to bolster the 10-year returns which continue to deteriorate as the calculation for this time horizon no longer includes the high performing 1999 calendar year. The full report is available at www.nvca.org

 

 

InVivoLink, a Sandbox external company, announced a partnership today with Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital to boost operating room data collection. Click on the link below to learn more.

 

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Sandbox's own Tom Hawes is a Kauffman Fellow! Check out the article below to learn more about Tom and the Kauffman Fellowship.

 

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“Patients with diabetes or hypertension or both who communicated with their doctors via e-mail got better care and better health outcomes, new California research contends.The improvements as a result of the e-mail exchanges included such measures as blood sugar and blood pressure control, according to a report appearing in Health Affairs.

 

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The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) announced on May 16, 2010 that Hello Health is a recipient of the 2010 ATA Innovation Award for Telemedicine.

 

Hello Health is the flagship offering from Myca Health® Inc, designed to use modern technology to place the doctor-patient relationship back to its proper place at the center of care. Hello Health is a is a business platform that takes a primary care practitioner’s vision for a more responsive, accessible and viable practice and makes it real.

 

Hello Health uses Myca’s patented technology, MycaHub, to deliver a set of automated tools, intuitive interfaces, integrated clinical and practice management systems, and the capacity for doctor and patient to engage in real time, any time, online or offline.

 

Phreesia, the leading patient check-in company, announced today the close of a $16 million Series D investment. Ascension Health Ventures (AHV) led the round, joining existing investors BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, L.P., Sandbox Industries, Polaris Venture Partners, HLM Venture Partners, and Long River Ventures. As part of the investment, Victor Kats, Investment Manager at Ascension Health Ventures, will be joining Phreesia's board of directors.

 

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InVivoLink Technology Designed to Chart Use of Medical Implants

(As published in the Nashville Business Journal)

 

A surge in demand for total joint replacements is colliding with a virtual vacuum of information about the procedures and their effectiveness. Ryan Wells thinks he has the solution.

 

Wells is founder and CEO of InVivoLink LLC, a Nashville information technology company whose Web-based software captures data about how medical implants are used and shares it with doctors, hospitals and manufacturers.

 

“There’s an overwhelming need for data,” he said. “The manufacturers want it; the hospitals want it; the physicians want it. And, right now, they’re relying heavily on a lot of anecdotal data sets.”

 

InVivoLink has just more than 100 customers so far, a mix of orthopaedic physicians and device manufacturers. Wells said the company is “shoring up” the critical third link in the chain: hospitals. While he wouldn’t disclose InVivoLink’s projected revenue, he hinted at the market opportunity: More than 3,600 hospitals nationwide are currently doing total replacement surgeries.

 

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Bloom Health was in the news Sunday because of it's innovative approach to health insurance for small businesses. Bloom is a company dedicated to finding better health care together, serving employers, employees & individuals. Using a defined contribution approach, Bloom helps employers determine how much to spend on health care, and helps employees find the most suitable health insurance and health programs on which to spend their health care dollars.

 

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In the waning moments of Sunday evening (quite literally the eleventh hour), the U.S. House of Representatives passed was some are calling the most comprehensive changes to the American health care system in over 100 years. The bill passed by a narrow margin of just seven votes, and could be signed into law as early as Tuesday after the Senate passes a small amendment known as the "fix-it bill," though many changes won't be seen for several years. For entrepreneurs, startups and venture capitalists, the legislation ushers in an entirely new set of circumstances and opportunities.

 

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As more employers strain to provide health insurance for their workers, a Minneapolis start-up has a novel suggestion: Outsource it. Bloom Health, headed by a couple of Twin Cities serial entrepreneurs, wants to take over the task of choosing, buying and administering health benefits for small and medium-sized employers.

 

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ARMONK, N.Y. - 01 Mar 2010: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Initiate Systems, a privately held software company with a focus on data integrity and master data management technologies. Initiate's software helps clients in many industries -- particularly in healthcare and government -- share information across multiple systems to improve the services they provide to patients, citizens and customers.

 

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Bloom Health announced today it has secured $5 million in Series A financing from BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, LP and Sandbox Industries. Bloom Health will use the capital to ramp up company launch initiatives, including product development, sales/marketing, strategic partnerships and talent acquisition.

 

"We are passionate about helping individuals access tailored health care services and guiding companies to improve health care offerings for employees through the use of technology," said Abir Sen, Chief Executive Officer for Bloom Health. "The financial backing and support from our investors will accelerate Bloom Health's ability to be a comprehensive health care solution at a time when solutions are in short supply."

 

"We are excited to invest in Bloom Health because the company is poised to change the way individuals and companies access health care coverage and services," said Paul Brown, Managing Director of BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners. "Bloom Health's innovative approach helps companies and their employees get smarter about how they pay for and select health benefits. Bloom Health is a great addition to our portfolio of early stage health care companies that promote efficiency, lower costs and increase consumer options."

 

Bloom Health is dedicated to helping employers and their employees find better health care, together. Using a defined contribution approach, Bloom Health helps employers determine how much to spend on health care, and then helps employees find the most suitable health insurance and health programs on which to spend their health care dollars.

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Initiate has issued a press release about the implementation of Initiate Interoperable Health at Intermountain Healthcare, an organization that is often referred to as a “model for health reform ” by President Obama. “Intermountain is really tapping into the strength of Initiate’s technology,” said Lorraine Fernandes, vice president and industry ambassador for Initiate. “Initiate Interoperable Health will facilitate the exchange and coordination of patient medical records and provider data across the enterprise clinical information system to help Intermountain deliver more patient-centered service.”

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Last week, we featured two Chicago entrepreneurs who recently appeared on the ABC reality show "Shark Tank." The entrepreneurs, Adam McCombs and Brian Duggan of JumpForward, gave up half of their business in exchange for $600,000. Previously, we’ve debated the merits of venture capital with entrepreneurs Jason Fried (37 Signals) and Genevieve Thiers (Sittercity.com). Today we look at the issue from the venture capitalist’s perspective. Nick Rosa is the managing director of Sandbox Industhttp://sandboxindustries.com/node/add/newsentryries, a Chicago business incubator that is expanding into venture capital. Crain’s contributor Steve Hendershot asks Mr. Rosa, former president and CEO of Nutrasweet Co., how he weighs business opportunities as a venture-capital investor.

 

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CHICAGO (October 30, 2009) - Initiate, Inc., a leader in data management solutions for information sharing and improved data quality, has acquired Accenx Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of health information exchange solutions. This acquisition furthers Initiate’s growth strategy and expands its offerings in the healthcare market. The terms of the deal are confidential. By acquiring Accenx, Initiate expands the breadth and reach of its proven interoperable health solutions enabling a broader set of healthcare stakeholders to connect and share information as market dynamics require greater focus on establishing well integrated healthcare communities.

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At the Connected Health Symposium in Boston this week, Myca Health described its offering as a platform for physicians and patients, called MycaHub, which delivers a set of automated tools, intuitive interfaces, integrated systems, and the capacity for doctor and patient to engage in real time, any time, online or offline.

 

Earlier this month the company announced that Blue Cross Blue Shield Ventures and Sandbox Industries had made a strategic $5 million investment into the company, which has a well-known and highly publicized subsidiary named Hello Health that offers the platform to physicians.

 

Myca Health also offers its Myca Hub to employers with in-house clinics — self-insured employers like Qualcomm. Interestingly, Qualcomm actually developed the Myca platform in-house before turning it over to entrepreneur Nat Findlay who now leads the company as CEO, Qualcomm’s VP of Health and Life Sciences, Don Jones told mobihealthnews on the sidelines of The Connected Health Symposium in Boston this week. Qualcomm knew that EMRs probably wouldn’t reach the level of patient-doctor interactivity that Myca offers today for years to come — so it decided to build the platform on its own. How long do you think it will be before EMRs allow patients and doctors to exchange video messages? Myca does that today.

 

“You might guess from my title that I had a little bit to do with Qualcomm’s decision to [use Myca Health's platform], but really it was a human resources-driven effort to put it in place,” Jones told attendees at the event. “I like to describe Qualcomm’s health plan as ‘110 percent PPO’ because it covers everything, including deductibles and even things like LASIK. The company uses the health plan for retention and recruiting and it’s quite effective. Qualcomm is recognized as a top 100 employer in America and its health plan is a key reason,” Jones said.

 

While discussions around employers interest in connected health offerings typically stems from cutting healthcare costs, Jones said Qualcomm’s main reason for adopting the Myca Health platform is to maintain or increase employee productivity and activity. Qualcomm’s workforce is highly educated and therefore very expensive: 77 percent of the company’s employees have PhDs and Masters, which means if they have to leave their desks to go home, get their car and go to the doctor’s office, it can be extraordinarily expensive for the company. The cost of productivity drove Qualcomm to the Myca platform. Care can be conveniently provided to the employees, who on some occasions can check-in with their doctor via email or even video message, Jones said.

 

Jones closed his remarks about the Myca platform by sharing some research that Qualcomm did about the key to developing medical services for the consumer market place. In order to have a successful offering, Jones said, five things must be present: Hope, Guilt Reduction, Peace of Mind, Trust and Fun. The offering must supply hope to the consumer so he or she believes the offering can change their condition. The offering must supply or meet a level of guilt reduction — maybe it makes it easier for a patient to see their doctor by offering it online, while before taking the time to go to the doctor was taking them away from work. The solution must also allow patients to build trust and Jones said Myca does that by increasing the personal relationship between patient and doctor. The service must provide some peace of mind: In this case the doctor is available to receive questions via email or video message anytime and anywhere. Finally, Jones said that the service must provide some element of fun, which “is something that the medical device guys just don’t get at all.”

 

Phreesia, the Patient Check-In Company, announced a Copay Collection Service, at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. Co-founders Chaim Indig and Evan Roberts demonstrated how medical practices nationwide will soon be able to take advantage of the swipe-card enabled PhreesiaPad to process payments made with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. In January 2010, Phreesia will launch its Copay Collection Service to the public, creating an efficient way for practices to increase revenue.

 

San Francisco – October 6, 2009 – Myca Health Inc., the leader and innovator in web-based health care platforms for health practices, today announced a strategic $5 million investment in the company by BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners LP and Sandbox Industries. Myca Health has developed a platform for physicians and patients, MycaHub, that delivers a set of automated tools, intuitive interfaces, integrated systems, and the capacity for doctor and patient to engage in real time, any time, online or offline.

 

“Today, physicians are overwhelmed and frustrated by the administrative burden of practice. Patients are equally frustrated by the lack of access and poor communications that seems to be part of visiting the doctor. We set about to change that,” said Nathanial Findlay, CEO of Myca Health. “We’ve created a proprietary technology that for the first time harnesses the power of social networks and provider management tools to deliver something that really has the power to improve health care.”

 

Everything about MycaHub is designed to simplify the engagement between a provider and the patient, let the physician concentrate on care and enable a higher quality of practice. MycaHub seamlessly integrates with today’s communication tools like PDAs and smart phones, as well as remote monitoring devices and leading Electronic Health Records solutions, ensuring a seamless flow of both patient communication and data.

 

“We saw in Myca a company and a platform dedicated to the needs of physicians and patients,” said Paul Brown, Managing Director of BlueCross BlueShield Ventures. “MycaHub is an innovative and effective way to increase access and satisfaction for Blue Cross Blue Shield members, and to enable physicians to do what they do best—provide care.”

 

MycaHub, flexible and scalable, is as relevant to the smallest primary care practice as it is to large group practices, corporate care clinics and hospital-run clinics. Through Hello Health, a wholly-owned business that provides a practice and business solution for micro-practices, and larger practice applications being developed for Ascension Health and Qualcomm, Myca has brought to market a web-based healthcare platform that works.

 

The strategic investment has been made jointly by BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and by Sandbox Industries. “We’re excited to be able to accelerate the adoption of MycaHub. We believe Myca’s platform will increase quality of care while reducing cost.” said Matt Downs, Managing Partner of Sandbox Industries.

 

“We are delighted and honored by the decision to invest by BlueCross BlueShield Ventures and Sandbox Industries,” said Mr. Findlay. “They share our vision of a revitalized health care experience for both doctors and patients, one that is at the heart of the reinvention of care for all Americans.”

 

Initiate, Inc., a leader in data management solutions for the exchange of health information, announced today the launch of Initiate Catalyst Patient Registry, a self-contained virtual software appliance to accelerate data interoperability for electronic medical records (EMR), portals, radiology information systems (RIS), picture archival communications systems (PACS) and other healthcare information exchange (HIE) solutions. The new software appliance provides independent software vendors (ISVs) and solution providers in healthcare with entity resolution and search capability that can be embedded in their information exchange applications and portals to improve patient care.

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Phreesia, the Patient Check-In Company™, has announced that it will offer a new risk assessment tool in its electronic patient intake process to help physicians identify patients at risk for osteoporosis and patients in need of immediate treatment.

 

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New York, NY - February 17, 2009 - Phreesia, the Patient Check-In Company™, the leader in patient-intake, announced today the close of an $11.6 million investment, bringing total investment to date to $25 million. BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, L.P., a corporate venture fund of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, and Sandbox Industries led the round, joining existing investors Polaris Venture Partners, HLM Venture Partners, and Long River Ventures. As part of the investment, Paul Brown, Managing Director of BlueCross BlueShield Ventures, Inc. and Matthew Downs, Managing Partner of Sandbox Industries will join the Phreesia board of directors.

 

"This investment by BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Industries is a validation of Phreesia's successful growth as the Patient Check-in Company and as a leading healthcare information technology company. Phreesia will use this funding to expand its rapidly growing footprint of thousands of doctors in 49 states," said Chaim Indig, Phreesia's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Given the push by the new Administration towards advanced healthcare IT adoption, this is an exciting time to be at the forefront of technology for patient-centered care. We are proud to have such a strategic partner lead this round."

 

Paul Brown, Managing Director of BlueCross BlueShield Ventures, Inc., said, "BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners is committed to ensuring that providers are able to deliver the best care possible to patients. In Phreesia we are investing in a healthcare company that is demonstrating enhanced clinical outcomes for patients and more accurate, hassle-free information for physicians. Our providers and members will benefit from improved monitoring of treatment response and overall support of measurement-guided care."

 

CHICAGO -- BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, L.P., a corporate venture fund that is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, and Sandbox Industries announced today a $5-million investment in Initiate Systems, Inc., a leader in master data management (MDM) solutions for health information exchange.

 

BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners is a newly formed $116-million fund to which 11 independent Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield companies have committed capital. The fund invests in technologies, products, and services in the U.S. healthcare industry that promote efficiency, lower costs, and improve options for consumers. In a unique partnership, the fund is managed jointly by representatives from the Association, the participating Blue Plans, and Sandbox Industries, a Chicago-based venture capital firm.