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
Lenexa-based Athlete Network teams with K-State, Arkansas, Lindenwood on student engagement
A Kansas City-area tech startup is expanding the scope of its social network for athletes, the company announced this week, revealing new partnerships between Athlete Network and three universities with Division 1 sports. The company is collaborating with athletic departments at Kansas State University, Arkansas State University, and Lindenwood University to develop game-changing technology with…
Cut from Sandlot’s lineup: Demand for Coaster Oven ‘coming out of the woodwork’
A faint smell of leather washes over customers when they enter Sandlot Goods’ new Crossroads space at 2125 Washington St. But the most recent buzz comes from owner Chad Hickman’s side venture with his brother: Coaster Oven. In the back corner of Sandlot’s workshop, where the Kansas City-born company specializes in leather and stitch work,…
Aug. 9 KC Coworking Day celebrates the future of work — happening now in Kansas City
Editor’s note: The following content about KC Coworking Day is sponsored by the KC Coworking Alliance but independently produced by Startland News. After setting a world record in 2017 for the most people coworking in the same place, KC Coworking Day is set to return Aug. 9 with a party meant to spark even greater…
Emerging from failure: Doughnut Lounge founder gets raw among startup peers (IXKC photos)
Jake Randall’s “crazy dream” — a collision of craft, creativity and conversation contained in Westport’s Doughnut Lounge — was gone in a matter of 24 hours, he said. “I found out on Monday. And we closed on Tuesday,” Randall told a crowd of startup community peers this week at Startland’s Innovation Exchange. “I was embarrassed.…