Atlantic Health System announced this month that it is adopting FeelBetter technology for polypharmacy patient management. Polypharmacy patients are patients who take five or more medications at the same time.
The health system, which provides care primarily in New Jersey but also in parts of New York and Pennsylvania, is now using the startup’s personalized medication management platform in its accountable care organizations (ACOs).
FeelBetter, based in Tel Aviv and Boston, was founded in 2018. The startup aims to address a growing public health problem among older patients – the fact that many of them are prescribed multiple medications to take at the same time. This paves the way for poor health outcomes, increased utilization of healthcare services and rising costs of care, said Liat Primor, CEO of FeelBetter.
The U.S. health care system’s flawed medication management protocols resulted in 275,000 deaths and more than $528 billion in avoidable costs each year, she pointed out.
“We believe it is time to rethink drug management,” Primor explained. “We are leveraging technology to provide a more personalized, holistic approach to medication management – one that goes beyond a single disease, diagnosis or point in time and focuses comprehensively on each individual’s care journey.”
FeelBetter’s platform identifies patients who are at high risk of deterioration and avoidable hospitalization due to suboptimal medication management and proactively suggests immediate, actionable interventions to reduce these risks, she explained. The solution also helps doctors monitor patients’ progress and measure the impact of clinical interventions, she added.
As part of its new partnership with Atlantic Health System, FeelBetter will use its platform to flag patients at high risk of being hospitalized for polypharmacy reasons, recommend medication changes, and monitor individual care pathways. Atlantic Health System will deploy the technology in three ACOs serving more than 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries and more than 420,000 patients with commercial insurance.
FeelBetter’s target customers are organizations focused on value-based care, Primor said. The startup’s SaaS solution can help them improve resource allocation, quickly reduce the burden of avoidable hospitalizations and increase clinical pharmacist capacity, she noted.
According to Primor, FeelBetter’s main competitors are Arine and Tabula Rasa.
“All of our competitors sell to health plans and integrate claims, while we target providers and integrate both EMR and claims,” she explained.
FeelBetter’s technology “also goes beyond a single point in time or a single disease,” Primor added. The startup’s platform includes both historical and real-time data to assess the whole patient and provide a comprehensive view of an individual’s health trajectory, she explained.
In addition to the Atlantic Health System news, FeelBetter will announce several additional health system customers in the coming months, Primor said.
Photo: grThirteen, Getty Images