Now in 80 hospitals across 15 healthcare systems nationwide, Vital improves patient experience, reduces clinical burden, and decreases costs for emergency departments
Vital, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software improving patient experience and follow-up visit loyalty in hospital emergency departments (ED) and into inpatient stays, has secured $15M in Series A funding led by Transformation Capital, with a strategic health system joining the round alongside existing investors First Round Capital and Threshold Ventures. Vital’s new ERAdvisor application gives patients and their caregivers in the ED real-time, mobile updates about wait times, lab statuses, and next steps for a more streamlined patient experience and improved care coordination.
Launched in 2019 and co-founded by the creator of Mint.com, Aaron Patzer, and Emergency Medicine Physician at Emory Healthcare, Justin Schrager, Vital is now used in more than 80 hospitals across 15 healthcare systems nationwide, including CommonSpirit Health and Emory Healthcare. With this new round of funding, Vital will expand its team and both broaden and deepen the impact its technology has on patients, healthcare providers, and EDs across the United States. The service is on track to serve one million patients and caregivers by the end of this year.
“The last year has only clarified our mission: we must simplify and humanize medical care and communication, especially in the hospital setting,” says Vital co-founder and CEO Aaron Patzer. “Vital can now be plugged into the electronic medical records of any health system and implemented in a matter of days or weeks. It’s now incredibly easy to bring the same kind of consumer-friendly user experience we built at Mint to a place that desperately needs it: healthcare.”
Vital is HIPAA-compliant, cloud-based software that adds a layer of user experience (UX) and AI to any existing electronic health record system (EHR) to provide a clear view of patients’ status, predicting wait times for each step of the process. It indicates where workflow is bottlenecked across the ED. Its mobile no-download required web app helps patients feel more in control of their visit with automatic and detailed updates, and the ability to share their progress with trusted friends and family. In some emergency departments throughout the country, ER wait times can be upwards of 50 hours, causing patient dissatisfaction and delayed medical attention. With Vital’s services, patients and caregivers can get up-to-date information on wait times, triage care, and next steps all through the power of AI technology while avoiding the frustration of traditional Emergency Department visits.
“The healthcare industry has spent the last 10 years implementing EMRs and forgetting about the patient experience,” said Todd Cozzens, managing partner at Transformation Capital. “Having built Mint.com, famous for its breakthrough consumer useability, Aaron saw an opportunity to give the patient the information they need when they want it, helping clinicians at the same time. And the fact that Vital can be installed so quickly and easily with no real burden on IT departments continues to drive quick adoption.”
For Hospitals and EDs: Easy Deployment, Immediate Impact
“Emory signed on to pilot Vital at a time when we couldn’t have predicted how essential its real-time view across our EDs would prove,” said Dr. David Wright, Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Emory Clinic, “As people’s expectation grows for transparency and ease-of-use, it’s really great to be able to provide both to patients and their caregivers while also alleviating burden on our nurses and staff.”
Vital was designed to be as easy to implement as possible:
- No Installation & Ultra-Fast Deployments: Vital built the largest real-time network of hospital data feeds, now covering 60% of US hospitals (over 3,000 hospitals), so new customers can be up and running in a matter of weeks, for quick pilots or full deployments.
- Works with Existing EHR: Vital connects directly to leading EHR software from AllScripts, Cerner, Epic, and more.
- Material Impact: Increased satisfaction and improved transitions of care can potentially lead to millions of dollars in annual revenues per ED, per year.
Focusing on Care: More Human Connection and Increased Clarity
“While COVID-19 has impacted healthcare in many ways, it hasn’t changed our mission to provide exceptional patient care,” Kat Rondeau, Chief Strategy Officer for Dignity Health’s Southwest Division. “With Vital, we’re helping to assure patients take the appropriate steps to make sure they are safe and well-cared for when they are at Dignity – while also allowing our team to communicate directly with patients all along their visit.”
Vital offloads much of the repetitive work required from clinicians, leading to more time for patients.
- More Human Connection: Vital interprets signals in the EHR and communicates with patients and their family the way doctors and nurses would – if they had the time.
- What’s Happening and What’s Next: Vital walks patients through common questions – What is a CT scan? How long will I be in the waiting room? What lab results are still needed for a decision? – letting clinicians focus on care.
- Easy Adoption: Vital has seen 50-60% patient adoption when a mobile phone number is taken at registration, including strong adoption among seniors.
For patients and caregivers, ERAdvisor helps keep patients informed and in control:
- Text-Based Updates: Provides real-time content and text message updates to patients and their caregivers through their smartphones.
- Individual Attention: ERAdvisor sends personalized information on wait times, next steps, progress on labs and imaging, information about care teams, and is tailored for each patient’s journey and language.
- Secure Sharing in and Beyond the ED: Patients can securely give family members or caregivers progress updates without revealing any health data.
- Less Stress, More Satisfaction: Knowing what’s coming reduces patient and family distress, and improves patient satisfaction.
For more information on Vital, please visit vitaler.com
About Vital
Vital is a modern software for hospital emergency departments that makes it easier to coordinate care and prioritize patients. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP), Vital engages patients in their emergency department and inpatient visit, improving patient satisfaction, keeping patients in-network, and generating millions in additional revenue. . Founded by Mint.com creator Aaron Patzer (@apatzer), and Emory Emergency Physician Dr. Justin Schrager, Vital is HIPAA-compliant, and a cloud-based software that sits on top of any existing electronic health record system (EHR): Epic, Cerner, Meditech, and more. The company’s investors include Transformation Capital, First Round Capital, Threshold Ventures (formerly DFJ Venture), Bragiel Brothers, Meridian Street Capital, Refactor Capital, Vivek Garipalli, SV Angel, Jay Desai (Founder of PatientPing), Brian Manning, and Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg (Founders of Flatiron Health). For more information please visit vitaler.com or follow us on Twitter (@Vital_EHR).
About Transformation Capital
Transformation Capital is a digital health growth equity firm dedicated to supporting commercial-stage companies focused on improving people’s health and the sustainability of the healthcare system. The firm was founded on the premise that investing in healthcare requires both a sophisticated understanding of the healthcare system, including the prevailing market forces and resulting opportunities, as well as deep connections with decision makers across key providers, payers, and digital health innovators. Transformation Capital is an investor in digital health companies across the ecosystem, including Health Catalyst, Datavant, Olive, Panalgo, Cleo, Groups Recover Together, and Vera Whole Health. For more information, visit transformcap.com or follow us @transformcptl.
