Tech Beat: New Lyft Partnership, $1.2 Billion Ability Acquisition

Lyft, Allscripts Join Forces to Provide Health Care Transportation

A new partnership between ride-hailing service Lyft and healthcare information technology firm Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) could result in less lower-income patients missing doctor’s appointments due to lack of transportation.

Under the new partnership, clinicians will be able order non-emergency Lyft rides for their patients using Allscript’s electronic health record (EHR) platform, Allscripts Sunrise. Allscripts currently reaches about 7.2 million patients across the U.S.

Currently, 3.6 million Americans have transportation issues that prevent them from getting to or from a doctor’s appointment, and 25% of lower-income patients have missed or rescheduled their appointments due to lack of transportation. The new partnership aims to cut those numbers in half by the year 2020.

Inovalon Inks $1.2 Billion Deal to Buy Post-Acute Technology Company

Bowie, Maryland-based technology company Inovalon (Nasdaq: INOV) announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Minneapolis, Minnesota-based ABILITY Network for $1.2 billion in cash and restricted stock.

ABILITY is a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company and the company behind the myABILITY software platform, an integrated set of cloud-based applications for post-acute providers. ABILITY provides connectivity, administrative, clinical, and quality analysis, management, and performance improvement capabilities to more than 44,000 provider facilities.

The deal, expected to close next month, is set to grow the application offerings within the myABILITY platform while expanding the nature and reach of functions for Inovalon’s payer, pharma and device client base.

Aegis Living’s Alexa Use Featured on Amazon

Amazon is touting how senior living provider Aegis Living is using Alexa, the voice service on Amazon’s devices, to assist residents in its life enrichment program.

Residents in Aegis Living’s 30 communities use Alexa to keep up with news and sports, listen to music and communicate with their friends and family. The provider also uses the service to play music and dispense facts during music therapy sessions.

Virginia Life Plan Community Adopts French ‘Birdsong Tablet’ Tech

Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, a life plan community in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is teaming up with Lyon, France-based company TMM Groupe in the launch of the Birdsong Tablet, a new device for adults living with dementia.

The tablet comes with hundreds of hours of music, videos, games, and other kinds of therapeutic content. It also has a user-friendly “family app” for residents to talk with their loved ones over video chat or messaging. The device is the result of the Birdsong Initiative, a 2015 research study at Westminster-Canterbury which bolstered the idea that simplified digital technology could improve life and brain health for older adults.

The Birdsong Tablet is already available in Europe, and the partnership with Westminster-Canterbury marks its major debut in the U.S., with more development in the works, TMM Groupe noted.

K4Connect Launches Senior Living-Focused Content Management Platform

K4Connect, a mission-centered technology company, has announced the availability of a content creation, management and publishing platform for senior living community residents, staff and operators.

The New K4Community content management module (CMM) allows for content creation, management, and distribution directly through K4Community as opposed to using multiple platforms to complete tasks. The CMM includes a flexible templating engine, content scheduling and “live content” which automatically updates events, weather and news.

The CMM’s deployment model also allows communities to turn any television into a “smart TV” using Wi-Fi.

The new module is available to current K4Community customers, and will be offered to new K4Community customers in the second quarter of this year.

Assisted Living Quality Database ‘CarePrepare’ Launched

Raleigh, North Carolina-based senior housing analytics platform VisionLTC and Formation Healthcare Group (FHG)—a subsidiary of private investment management firm Formation Capital—are rolling out CarePrepare, the industry’s first assisted living quality database, to a select group of pilot partners.

The database functions as an assisted living version of “Nursing Home Compare.” Clients who choose to subscribe to the service will have access to consumer rating data and aggregated regulatory outcomes for assisted living communities currently spanning 75% of the U.S. population.

CarePrepare will soon begin working with organizations beyond its pilot group.

Written by Tim Regan