Orlando, Fla.-based The Garage, a high tech, health IT company recently introduced a new product in the healthcare sector that combines telemedicine with electronic medical records (EMR). Ignite is a 360-degree telehealth platform with a suite of live apps that allows patients and caregivers to have a meaningful experience that is both secure and convenient. The platform is meaningful use certified, HIPAA compliant, available 24x7, mobile enabled, cloud based and has full compatibility with text, audio and video. This product now extends the company's footprint in patient engagement technologies.
"It has been a humbling experience so far," said Pranam Ben, founder and CEO of The Garage. "We feel the adoption of technologies like Ignite will explode in the next 3 to 5 years due to rising awareness amongst consumers and a more competitive playing field for the providers."
Ignite provides 24-hour accessibility to patients while enabling physicians to delivery timely, preventative care. A physician can also access all medical records and provide specialized opinions during the appointment.
The Garage has been building digital tools and platforms that accelerate the transformation in healthcare and empower newer, value-based care models that ultimately improve quality of care for the patients and reduces cost for the providers.
According to Ben, Ignite is expected to change the patient care experience primarily in three ways:
- A more effective experience for the patients with real time virtual fulfillment of their healthcare needs
- A more convenient, secure experience (patients can connect from any device, any time, from anywhere)
- A more efficient platform for the providers to better understand, engage and treat their patients
Ignite also includes a comprehensive care plan library that allows for real time and personalized care plans to be managed via telehealth. Ignite's six areas of focus include chronic care management, home health, consults, remote intensive care, medication adherence and care coordination. For providers, Ignite is convenient, cost-effective and has a broad set of applications for patient care. It uses cloud based, mobile enabled adaptive technologies to deliver a lossless and HIPAA compliant telehealth experience to providers and patients. Ben said that the most surprising aspect of the usage so far has been how much the providers love it.
"It's easier to understand why patients would buy into it but physicians have equally embraced the new way of interacting with their patients and some of them have even said its better than an office visit," said Ben. "That tells us we are onto something big."
Ben believes that the most fundamental difference between Ignite and competing products is the transactional nature of its platform.
"Most other systems out there are educational in nature. We have taken a bolder approach and enabled hard core clinical apps that empower true clinical care to be delivered via the platform," said Ben.
The other area where Ben said that Ignite stands out is the contextual nature of the data presented and the company's ability to enrich the experience by using machine learning and deep analytics.
"It takes a deep understanding to bring it all together the way we have in Ignite," he added.
Overall, while the technology promises much potential and can be the next frontier for patient engagement, federal and state regulations need to be standardized and there needs to be a mainstream adoption by providers of all specialties, noted Ben.
"However, I am an optimist and believe the technology gains will trump the obstacles over a period of time," he said. "We, at the Garage, will continue to invest in Ignite and create an experience like no other for our users."
For more information, visit www.thegaragein.com.
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