Boston Children’s Hospital, the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, has announced a new deal with Medumo, a patient navigation platform that helps prevent costly readmissions and improves patient engagement.

The arragnement will bring together the pre-visit engagement functionality of Medumo’s CareTour platform with DisCo’s post-discharge technology, offering patients comprehensive support throughout their care journey, pre- and post-visit, the organizations said in a joint statement Jan. 16.

Medumo’s exclusive license with DisCo — an application developed by Boston Children’s — is meant to ensure continuity of care for vulnerable pediatric patients as they are being transitioned between care facilities, or at hospital discharge.

Medumo helps patients navigate through their care, making sure they are scheduled appropriately, prepared for their appointments and given instructions needed after a surgery, procedure or clinical appointment. The app is adapted to the preferred way a patient wants to be contacted via email, text or voice message. Medumo uses predictive software to optimize the outcomes, the organizations said.

BCH and Medumo will co-deploy the initial technology solution across Boston Children’s gastroenterology, the Adolescent Medicine Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) program, and bariatric surgery, the hospital said.

WHY IT MATTERS

Loss-to-follow-up, missed appointments, improper procedure preparation and/or poor discharge follow- up can all lead to poor patient outcomes, costing billions a year to U.S. hospitals.

An analysis of reports from MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library shows that patients require many interventions post-discharge, to have the best chance of avoiding readmission, we reported Jan. 2.

THE BIGGER TREND

Medumo’s CareTour technology has exchanged over five million patient interactions and serves over 25 hospitals by sending precisely timed notifications and instructions to patients to ensure they show up prepared for their procedures, surgeries and appointments, the company said.  By tracking patient behavior, can predict patients who are at higher risk of not showing up for appointments or could be poorly prepared.

Through the Medumo platform, pediatric hospitals throughout the world will now be able to access post-discharge patient engagement and communication features developed at Boston Children’s Hospital, according to Boston Children’s Hospital.

ON THE RECORD

“We are excited to incorporate Boston Children’s technology and expertise into Medumo’s core platform and offer specialized pediatric CareTours to hospitals and clinics across the country,” said Adeel Yang, CEO and co-founder of Medumo. 

Diana Manos is a Washington, D.C.-area freelance writer specializing in healthcare, wellness and technology. 

Twitter: @Diana_Manos
Email the writer: dnewsprovider@gmail.com 

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