Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Charleston-based MUSC partners to create new virtual health care company

Krys Merryman //October 27, 2022//

Charleston-based MUSC partners to create new virtual health care company

Krys Merryman //October 27, 2022//

Listen to this article

Ovatient is a new, virtual and in-home care nonprofit company with the aim of transforming health care delivery while building and maintaining connectivity to health systems. (Photo/Provided)

Two major health care systems have formed a new partnership and created a virtual company with the goal of redesigning traditional care with a virtual-first delivery model.

The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and The MetroHealth System, based in Cleveland, created Ovatient, a new, comprehensive virtual and in-home care nonprofit company with the aim of transforming health care delivery while building and maintaining connectivity to health systems and the care it is anticipated to provide, according to a news release.

Ovatient is developing a solution with the goal of augmenting current clinical offerings by extending its brand through a proprietary, scalable platform, according to the release. The virtual care is poised to enable health care systems and patients to access best-in-class virtual and in-home care with a seamless, hyper-personalized user experience.

Through this new model, there is an opportunity for health systems to pool resources and address common health care workforce issues by working together, such as increasing access to a limited number of behavioral health and specialty care providers instead of competing against each other for them, the release stated.

“Ovatient shifts care away from traditional care delivery sites and brings it to the customer,” said Michael Dalton, Ovatient CEO and entrepreneur-in-residence at MetroHealth, in the release. “With our proprietary platform, we will accelerate and scale it, not just across MetroHealth and MUSC Health but to other health systems throughout the country. Ovatient will help enable a health system’s digital transformation journeys and provide a user experience and care delivery model that has the best interests of patients and providers at its core.”

MUSC Health and MetroHealth created Ovatient to offer convenience for patients and a better experience while preserving the connectivity to acute and procedural care sites, so patients don’t endure possible fragmented care, as nontraditional healthcare providers continue to grow and seek to capitalize on digital technologies available, the release stated.

“Built for health systems by health systems, Ovatient represents an opportunity to multiply our collective wisdom and clinical expertise in telehealth and care delivered in the home,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO and executive vice president of health affairs, in the release. “We look forward to engaging with other like-minded health systems who believe that together, we can make history by creating a new way of serving patients and addressing their health needs.”

Currently, Ovatient is working with providers at both health care systems to build clinically informed technology to support clinical workflows and provide a seamless continuum of care to existing and new customer bases. These health systems are committed to improving care access not only in South Carolina and Ohio but across the United States, meeting patients where they are and connecting them with trusted, evidence-based health systems, according to the release.

“We are positioning Ovatient not just as a company but as a care model that puts patients first,” said Dr. Akram Boutros, MetroHealth president and CEO. “Ovatient redesigns the way patients receive care and through its holistic, innovative approach will help patients access high-quality care, informed by the clinical experts at our respective health systems, anytime and everywhere.”

-