Colorado-based cliexa, the maker of various software tools for providers, announced in a blog post yesterday that it has acquired ProSkedge.com, an automated scheduling platform for surgical procedures. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

ProSkedge is the work of Dr. Lukasz Kowalczyk, a practicing gastroenterologist who, according to his LinkedIn profile, started ProSkedge in June 2019.

As a part of cliexa's offering, though, it extends beyond surgical scheduling to act as an all-in-one tool for gastroenterology (GI) practices. According to its new product page, the platform is now capable of gathering the necessary approvals, providing ambulatory surgery center (ASC) reporting, managing documents and handling communications between an ASC and a hospital.

“Surgical care continues to grow at a high rate and COVID has pushed care out of hospitals and into higher value ASCs," Kowalczyk, who now serves as a cliexa board member and its chief medical officer for GI and surgical automation, said in a statement.

"As cliexa enables the digital delivery of care across ambulatory clinic settings, ProSkedge adds that expertise into the ASC’s and the surgical space. cliexa now offers healthcare organizations a singular, comprehensive system for high-value digital transformation across the entire patient journey.”

Alongside a push into the GI space, cliexa Advisory Board Chairman Dr. Gerald Maccioli said that the tech integration helps the provider software maker extend into preclinical care – a new avenue for the company, with offerings that have so far focused on digital patient onboarding, EHR-integrated documentation, revenue cycle management and remote patient monitoring.

"The integration of scheduling care enhances the patient experience and removes historic hurdles," he said.

THE LARGER TREND

Surgery coordination is an area of clinical communications that has seen some attention over the years. Some of these include:

• DocSpera, which was founded as far back as 2013.
• Casetabs' EHR-integrated tool for surgery coordination, communication and patient engagement, which raised $6 million in 2018.
• RelayOne, which brought in $500,000 in 2019 to support the launch of its surgical scheduling tool for large health systems.

Other digital tools have taken on the challenge of clinical communications and coordination among care teams, and appointment scheduling or other messaging between providers and patients. The big names here include Spok, Hillrom's Voalte platform, TigerConnect, Kyruus and Luma Health.