Bright.md Adds Major Healthcare System to Growing Roster of Virtual Care Customers
Adventist Health signs on to use SmartExam™ virtual patient visit tool, making primary care visits more productive
Bright.md, developer of a virtual care solution to improve healthcare efficiencies and outcomes while reducing costs for many of the most common health conditions, has implemented its SmartExam™ software tool at Adventist Health.
Adventist Health, based in Roseville, Calif., is a major West Coast healthcare delivery system, with hospitals, clinics and ancillary services in four states. It has initially implemented the software for use with patients in Oregon.
SmartExam acts as a virtual physician’s assistant, enabling primary care providers to deliver efficient remote care, cut costs and improve patient outcomes. Using SmartExam, patients get care from providers at their own trusted health system using a mobile phone or computer. The intelligent software dynamically interviews patients, using answers to gather more information and support providers in the care delivery process.
The SmartExam software leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to get smarter over time, as it learns more about a specific patient’s health needs and conditions. Each answer from a patient and each piece of information from the electronic medical record (EMR) system helps the software hone the next question, improving the chances of rapidly identifying important issues, potential causes and treatments to help the physician diagnose and treat the problem in the most efficient and evidence-based way possible. That information also helps augment the system’s overall knowledge base, so that all patients and all providers can benefit.
“SmartExam helps physicians remotely deliver high-quality care, diagnosing and treating patients in a matter of minutes. That’s far less time than the typical 20-minute in-office visit, which also requires patients to travel to and from a doctor’s office,” said Ray Costantini, MD, CEO and co-founder of Bright.md.
“The software’s built-in artificial intelligence enables it to dynamically interview patients and gather evidence-based information, which makes the virtual visit with their primary care doctors far more efficient and affordable. We look forward to a continued partnership with Adventist Health and to providing the technology and support they need to enhance the quality and experience of care for their patients.”
Adventist Health joins a growing contingent of large healthcare systems nationwide, including Greenville Health System and Rush University Medical Group, that are using the artificial intelligence-infused software to achieve benefits for patients, payors and providers. Together, those systems include more than 10,000 physicians and serve millions of patients nationwide.
“Providing convenient, affordable access to high-quality healthcare is a top priority for Adventist,” said Ralph Prows, MD, chief medical officer at Adventist Health. “SmartExam provides patients with the simplest, quickest, least expensive access to medical care for acute conditions. It is the most convenient care for busy people, and is a breeze for our providers. It’s an exciting addition to our suite of services to answer the needs of our community. This ability also helps our providers increase their top-of-license practice, making it a particularly valuable approach.”
From a health system or large medical group perspective, the ability to rapidly implement SmartExam is also a key point of differentiation, according to Costantini. “We’ve helped multiple health systems go live with a robust set of EMR integrations in just seven or eight weeks,” he said, as a result of the technology’s attributes and the Bright.md support team.
“We built the technology to make the experience delightful for everyone – patients, providers, healthcare administrators and IT teams,” Costantini added. “We are not the typical software vendor. We work with our customers throughout the entire relationship to make sure that they are getting the most value out of the platform. We take that partnership very seriously.”
Bright.md, which launched in early 2014, also announced today that it has raised $8 million in a Series B funding round led by B Capital Group, with participation by Seven Peaks Ventures