Two Capital Region health care software companies have formed a third company to help doctors care for chronically ill patients.
Albany-based Somml Health and Hudson-based UTMHealthcare have created NuLink Health, a platform that combines remote patient monitoring and virtual care. The goal is to keep patients with conditions like diabetes or heart failure out of the emergency department between regular office visits.
Both Somml Health and UTMHealthcare still operate as separate companies, but Seth Lachterman, partner at UTMHealthcare, said the companies had areas of crossover that led to NuLink.
UTMHealthcare has software that takes patient measurements remotely. Somml's platform allows patients with chronic illnesses to more easily stay in contact with multiple caregivers, including primary care, specialty care and family members, and gives those caregivers easier access to patient information to coordinate care.
"That unique combination is where the Venn diagram intersects," Lachterman said.
NuLink Health will not focus on the management of one specific chronic disease, as some other companies do. The company plans to hire nurses and case managers who specialize in many chronic illnesses. NuLink will manage patient care plans developed by medical practices and work with patients directly.
Lachterman said the number of employees to be hired will be determined in the next six months once the company's measured the initial demand for the service.
John O'Kane, co-founder of Somml Health, gave the example of a patient with heart failure whose weight needs to be monitored daily to make sure they're not retaining fluid or getting short of breath.
"We'll have someone that will take a look at that data on a daily basis, making sure that Mom is stepping on the scale and communicating and reaching out to the patient and saying, 'Hey, I noticed your weight is up a little bit. How are you feeling? What did you have to eat? You're not feeling well. OK, let's reach out to the practice. Let's reach out and let's get you into the practice versus waiting another day or two,'" O'Kane said.
The overall goal is to monitor patients regularly at home in an effort to decrease preventable visits to already overburdened emergency departments.
"I always say, 'How do you know a care plan has failed? They wind up back in the emergency department,'" O'Kane said.
The current market for the service is outpatient practices that want to create a hybrid model. O'Kane said NuLink would act as a virtual extension of the practice.
Lachterman said NuLink contracts with doctors and their practices for the service, and the doctors are later reimbursed for the cost of the service by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
NuLink has received some angel investment but declined to provide details.
The company plans to grow the service nationally and is in the process of meeting with potential clients.
"We're going to see what practices in the 48 states need this kind of assistance," Lachterman said. "We have several conversations that are progressing very favorably at this point. And one of them right now, we have one that's local in the eastern part of New York."
