Nobody thinks about their patients and clinical workflows more than actual care teams, but many of these teams are still using a mix of spreadsheets and Google Docs to track their processes because they haven’t had any better tools. Awell just raised $5M in seed funding to give them those tools.
Awell is a low-code editor that lets providers design clinical workflows and patient journeys that embed into their existing tech stack. Picture drag-and-drop building blocks tied together with if-this-then-that logic that you can use to create your ideal workflow. Those blocks could be:
- Care Pathways – PROMs, risk scores, engagement, etc.
- Triage – Questionnaires, calculations, messages
- Onboarding – Eligibility checks, symptom assessments, reminders
By using a single platform for a variety of tasks, Awell prevents providers from having to combine multiple tools or stitch different solutions together with custom code.
- Virtual-first providers use the platform to automate their workflows while retaining control of the end-user experience, with Awell’s APIs doing the heavy lifting on the back end.
- Traditional providers and tech-enabled services companies use the platform for a similar reason, to swap their PDFs and text-based guidelines for dynamic workflows.
Although the self-service route has its drawbacks (providers have a lot on their plates and even no-code development might be intimidating), Awell makes a strong case that healthcare could be about to witness its own version of the DevOps transformation that redefined the software industry.
- This shift, aptly coined as CareOps, involves introducing the same agile development framework that trades fragmented teams and lengthy deployment cycles for integrated dev/care teams and quicker software releases. (Plenty more on CareOps here).
- The promise of that methodology goes hand-in-hand with Awell’s mission: break down the silos between clinicians and engineers so that everyone can participate in the creation of care processes that ultimately deliver better patient outcomes.
The Takeaway
It’s hard to imagine that the software industry ever managed to get itself tangled in more fragmented practices and inefficiencies than healthcare, but if improving workflows was the cure, a no-code automation platform seems like a great place to start. Awell now has $5M to help kick off the CareOps movement, and it just might make it happen if it can convince enough providers to roll up their sleeves and automate some manual work.
