KCK health startup scores $270K to give patients a voice
July 30, 2015 | Bobby Burch
An area startup is using a recent injection of funds to better provide hospitals with valuable feedback from patients.
PatientsVoices, based in Kansas City, Kan., nabbed $270,000 from several organizations to boost its technology that analyzes and distributes information about patients’ experiences. Organizations such as the National Science Foundation, Google and Digital Sandbox KC each provided funding to the company.
“[The funding] gives us the ability to build and evaluate different versions of our software to see what works best,” PatientsVoices founder Mary Kay O’Connor said in a release. “The development team can test different software configurations without having to worry about processing costs and storage capacity.”
The National Science Foundation issued a $150,000 grant to the company, while Google offered $100,000 in credit on Google Cloud, where the platform is currently operating in a HIPPA-secure environment. Digital Sandbox, a Kansas City-based business incubator, provided a $20,000 grant to design and implement a dashboard allowing clients to access patients’ feedback.
PatientsVoices recruited area experts in computing and linguistics to help build the platform, which is now being tested in hospitals after the company. O’Connor said the platform automatically sorts feedback into improvement priorities from a patient’s perspective. It also demonstrates to hospital administrators how to improve patient satisfaction.
PatientsVoices is currently located in the Bioscience & Technology Business Center, a University of Kansas-based business incubator that has offices in Kansas City, Kan., and Lawrence. The BTBC applied to become a Google registered incubator and then nominated PatientsVoices for the $100,000 Google Cloud credit.
“Mary Kay’s unique business model improves patient satisfaction through a process that actually lowers costs and improves information capture and flow,” BTBC Vice President Frank Kruse said in a release. “The company’s technology dramatically and measurably improves a hospital’s ability to improve operations and patient outcomes on the fly. This is unheard of in the current environment.”
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
University students score opportunities via Pipeline IOTY
Four college student founders are hoping to capitalize on facetime with high-profile businesspeople as part of an inaugural university competition at Pipeline’s Innovator of the Year event. Students from four regional universities will present their startups at the annual Kansas City-hosted IOTY event, which features a pitch competition among 10 Pipeline fellows, an evening gala…
The WTF Series: Gift shopping for the ‘smart home’
On a daily basis, Ben Kittrell translates the jargon-filled world of technology for clients of his tech consultancy. The Words that Frustrate (WTF) series aims to offer readers some clarity in an industry dominated by techies’ confusing argot. With Christmas right around the corner, you may be looking for that techie, geeky person in…
Changes here and on the horizon for Startland
You don’t have to be a fan of 1970s rock legend David Bowie for these Changes. Startland News is in the midst of an evolution to better serve readers and to maximize its impact in Kansas City. A number of changes have already taken place, and many more are on the horizon. We’re a startup,…
Social reaction: Kansas City discusses whether it’s ‘too nice’
Is Kansas City too nice? That question recently provoked a lively discussion amongst the Kansas City entrepreneurial community, eliciting thoughtful responses on the merits and disadvantages of the area’s candor. Startland News compiled some of those comments below that we found on our website in what will mark a new focus that aims to stimulate…