Meet Elation: Committed to supporting the front lines of patient care
Meet Elation: Committed to supporting the front lines of patient care Meet Elation: Committed to supporting the front lines of patient care April 24, 2013
As founders who talk to physicians about their patients and practices on a daily basis, we understand the power a single story has to breathe life into a complex issue. As we officially kick off the Elation blog with this post, we’d like to share a little about our own story: how we see the state of the healthcare industry, the evolution of Elation, and the potential for transforming patient care through thoughtfully built technology.
Just a few years ago, one of us was a tenure-track professor at Stanford University, leading a satisfying academic life. The other was a management consultant, splitting time between New York and Toronto, rubbing shoulders with healthcare notables.
Instead, we left it all behind. Instead, we willed into life a product built initially with our own four hands. Instead, for the past few years, we’ve spent every ounce of our available time and energy on this effort called Elation.
Why?
People ask us this every day. We’ve heard it all:
“The space is so crowded.” (True, but it lacks a real solution.)
“Doctors are technophobes.” (No, they aren’t; they just don’t want to adopt tools that don’t work for them.)
“Aren’t a thousand companies doing the exact same thing?” “Hasn’t it all been tried?”
No. Not even close. That’s why we’re here.
We get the big picture. We’ve worked with hospital administrators and physicians in large health systems to implement information technology. We’ve advised the largest health care purchaser in California, as well as the provincial government of Ontario in Canada. We’ve consulted for the inner circles of the largest health insurer in the country. We’ve been mentored by the most respected minds in healthcare and written opinion pieces in places like the Wall Street Journal.
Yet even more importantly, we get the microscopic, front-line details. We’ve helped build a primary care physician practice — our father’s. We’ve hired and trained all the staff there for over a decade. We’ve served as full-time receptionist, office manager, billing manager, and dedicated IT support. We’ve sat with dozens of clinicians, from ones we’ve known for years to ones we’ve only met once, and seen first-hand how they care for patients.
It’s precisely these two distinct views that help us see the enormous chasm between the world of policymakers and administrators, with their visions of technology transforming healthcare, and the realities of the front-line physician, whose burdens are only increased by poorly thought out IT systems that fail to support how care is delivered in the real world. And that chasm is dangerous because it threatens to endanger the very person the entire healthcare system was initially built to serve: the patient.
Elation is bridging that chasm.
We believe that physicians on the front lines of care are the industry’s most powerful change agents, and Elation is dedicated to building a technology platform that empowers them and their patients. Physicians use Elation because they trust it. Because it works in the real world. Because it improves the quality of care. Because it makes clinicians more productive and more effective. We’re not just talking about holding medical records. We’re talking about building a powerful, anticipatory, technology-driven ecosystem that becomes the home base of every patient’s health, and eventually, transforms the delivery of healthcare itself through an unwavering focus on improving the physician-patient relationship.
To get there, we’re building a unique team with a powerful blend of technology, healthcare, and design expertise. Our talented staff has a track record of startup success and a passion for building products that improve lives in significant ways. Our advisors include front-line physicians, top design firm IDEO, and co-founders of Facebook and Quora. Solving a complex problem requires diverse perspectives from the brightest minds. We’re fortunate to have them on board.
Elation will undoubtedly evolve through trial, experimentation, and iteration as we explore new ideas and approaches. But we believe that the biggest technological innovation healthcare is screaming for today is a product that stays focused on the end goal: streamlining away all the clutter so that physicians can focus on ensuring patients live longer, healthier lives.
Welcome to Elation, a new standard for healthcare.
What brings you to our blog? And what’s your connection to the healthcare industry? Say hello and share your story in the comments section. While you’re here, check out what we offer at Elation Health.
