This morning CareDox, a school-based healthcare platform, announced that it is teaming up with ed-tech company PowerSchool to integrate the former’s digital consent feature into the latter’s Unified Administration Enrollment system. The new integration is expected to make it easier for parents to sign off on their child’s in-school healthcare treatment.
The program will be initially be focused on helping parent’s enroll their kid in flu shot clinics. However, CareDox said that by creating an API that will connect PowerSchool’s Enrollment platform with its school health platform, the services could help school give “a new level of visibility into their existing health programs” in the future.
Why it matters
While getting care to patients isn't alway easy, many are turning to schools as an avenue for pediatric care. However, all children under 18 must get parental consent. The companies are pitching this integration as a way to get the parent to sign off on care more easily.
The companies are focusing their efforts on flu shots. Between 2017 and 2018 the CDC reported that 185 children died from the flu. The agency said that 80 percent of the children who died were not vaccinated against the flu.
“As CareDox continues its rapid expansion to new districts in new states, it is increasingly important to partner with market leaders like PowerSchool to ensure that pediatric health technology and services are truly integrated into a district’s overall student services programs and processes,” Tony Boselli, president of CareDox, said in a statement.
What's the trend
This isn’t CareDox’s first major deal this year. In January the digital health startup announced a partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital in an initiative to provide new digital care management services to K-12 schools.
Recently the company has also been raising funds. In January of 2018 the company raked in $16 million in Series B funding. It also had a $6.4 million Series A raise in 2017 and a $4.3 million round in 2016.
On the record
“Our nation’s school districts are on the front lines of pediatric healthcare and are faced with a myriad of challenges year after year, whether it be managing the rise in chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, and mental health issues among students, or helping keep the student population protected from the inevitable peak of flu season,” Boselli said in a statement. “Together, CareDox and PowerSchool are making it easier for parents to take advantage of new and existing in-school wellness services that can help keep students, schools and communities healthier.”
