Elation Health Raises $15MM to Put Patients Back at the Heart of Care

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elation Health, formerly known as ElationEMR, today announced a $15MM funding round to solve one of healthcare's biggest challenges — the ability for patients to experience continuous, coordinated care in today's fragmented healthcare system. The cloud-based platform, beloved by thousands of physicians, connects more than two million patients to their providers in a dynamic health information network that enables providers in different organizations to share information and collaborate on mutual patients at the point of care.  The scale of Elation's care network and its high level of engagement in the clinical workflow of providers tackles the problem of interoperability, which results in billions of dollars in wasted healthcare expense every month.

The Series B round led by DFJ, with participation from angel investors including former president and CEO of Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Martha Marsh; and co-founder of Quora and creator of the Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect, Charlie Cheever, speaks to the vision of this platform and its potential to bridge the healthcare quality chasm in the US where almost 60% of patient care is delivered in independent practices.

Recent shifts in the healthcare landscape have further validated Elation's focus on providing increased visibility into quality of care experienced by the patient. This past April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced new reimbursement policies as part of the triple aim to emphasize performance over the traditional fee-for-service model. The rest of the healthcare marketplace is quickly following the lead of CMS, fundamentally changing the business models of care delivery.

"The first generation of health IT created siloed systems focused on revenue and administrative needs rather than supporting the patient," explains Cheever, whose contributions to Facebook helped transform it from an online community to a global technology platform. "Unlike those legacy systems that don't allow for a holistic view of the patient's clinical history, Elation is taking a network approach – putting the patient's data at the center of the interaction. This unleashes powerful new modes for physicians to interact, not only increasing efficiency and engagement but also transforming the patient experience."

With a strong following of physician advocates from its success as an electronic health record vendor, Elation has reimagined the way providers are able to securely share patient information. Instead of relying on a static back-and-forth exchange of data between practices, they've built the platform to place the patient's longitudinal story at the center of care. The platform's cockpit view pulls physician assessments, patient problems, lab results and other clinical data into a physician's workflow during the patient visit.  A patient's care team can then access this information, in real time, to get the most accurate and complete picture of their patient's health.

"Effective information sharing among a patient's providers is critical to improving health outcomes and lowering long-term cost of care," explains Martha Marsh, who spent eight years leading one of the nation's top hospitals at Stanford. "Elation's unique platform delivers just what physicians need to succeed in this rapid transition to value-based care: visibility into the longitudinal record across healthcare organizations to support effective clinical decisions and in turn drive care quality."

The company's vision is already thriving at organizations like the Chinese Community Health Care Association in San Francisco, where the platform connects a group of physicians who coordinate care for more than 25,000 patients. Elation has also found great success in geographical regions, an example of which is Hawaii where the platform serves more than 13% of patients on the islands — giving providers powerful insights into health outcomes across the population.

"It all starts with a great clinical tool," says Lance Kurata, MD, a primary care physician and early adopter of Elation in Hawaii. "Elation makes it easy for me to understand what's going on with my patients outside the four walls of my practice. I'm truly empowered to make more educated care decisions, which dramatically improves the quality of the care my patients receive."

Elation co-founder and CEO Kyna Fong, previously a health economics professor at Stanford, and her brother, co-founder and CXO Conan Fong, a former healthcare consultant, bring decades of collective experience in the healthcare industry, including years spent running their father's primary care practice. Together, they built Elation in that practice and have since grown the network to reach more than 200,000 providers — a rapid pace that positions the company to be a major player in healthcare's future.

"We're excited to welcome DFJ, with their proven reputation in the health IT space, to our group of investors," continues Kyna. "The unique expertise of this new team will undoubtedly help us achieve our vision of ensuring that every patient receives the highest quality care wherever they go in the healthcare system."

About Elation Health
Based in San Francisco, CA, Elation Health has developed a cloud-based care platform built for physicians so they can focus on their patients and deliver high quality care. Founded by Kyna and Conan Fong, who bring decades of collective experience in the healthcare industry, Elation connects patients to their providers in a dynamic health information network, enabling providers in different organizations to share information and collaborate on mutual patients at the point of care. The company is backed by leading VC firms DFJ and Aberdare Ventures, and angel investors including Martha Marsh, Charlie Cheever, and Ron Conway.

SOURCE Elation Health

Related Links

http://www.elationhealth.com