Cleveland Clinic’s Latest Startup Tackles Hospital-Patient Communication and Scheduling

Originally published on MedCityNews.com.

(Editor’s note: for a great interview with RelateCare’s Managing Director, click here)

Originally published on MedCityNews.com.

(Editor’s note: for a great interview with RelateCare’s Managing Director, click here)

A new Cleveland Clinic spinoff will leverage a partnership with an Irish contact center service provider to commercialize a centralized patient scheduling and communication model developed at the Clinic.

The joint venture, called RelateCare, designs and implements patient access strategies, patient relationship management strategies and customized patient calling programs for healthcare organizations in Ireland, Europe and the U.S. It also offers a set of patient scheduling guidelines called AppointmentLogic and additional consultation services, including post-discharge communication programs.

The Clinic and its partner in the joint venture, Rigney Dolphin, say the focus of these programs is preventive care, timely intervention and patient education.

“The RelateCare philosophy is to provide the right appointment with the right physician at the right place, utilizing clinically driven, technology-enabled appointment scheduling as a patient service,” said Frank Dolphin, a member of the company’s board and founder of the Rigney Dolphin Group. “This will increase access, enhance patient satisfaction, reduce readmissions and improve efficiencies in its client organizations.”

In surveys, consumers have cited inadequate communication as a top concern when it comes to their providers.

RelateCare joins a small cohort of other service/IT companies spun out of the clinic in the last five years, including ImageIQ and Explorys. Most of the other commercialization ventures have focused on medical devices, drugs and diagnostics.

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