Digital health company Solv, which made its mark in the appointment booking space, has released a slew of new services, including EHR integrations, EHR robotic process information, advanced queuing and in-app test results.

The company has integrated with EHR companies Epic, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks and NextGen, enabling the patient data, paperwork information and appointments in Solv to be automatically integrated into the provider's EHR.

"It streamlines the process a little bit and makes it much faster for the patient. … So a patient registers on Solv for a visit, and we're able to grab the data from the Solv side and get it into our EMR without having to manually enter our information," said Dr. Jeannie M. Kenkare, chief medical officer at PhysicanOne Urgent Care, a partner of Solv's.

The advanced queuing helps manage patient schedules for walk-ins, virtual appointments and scheduled in-person visits. Managers can see the appointment type, care provider and required length of visit. According to Heather Fernandez, cofounder and CEO of Solv, advanced queuing and integrations are key to helping healthcare practices be more consumer-friendly.

"On the provider side, we have something that we call the Solv Queue. And what that does is it helps co-mingle both the online bookings or anyone who's walking in or calling ahead into the provider office in a way that takes into account the throughput of that office," she said.

Fernandez compared the workflow structure of a healthcare system to a Starbucks and said that today patients are viewing the medical system more like consumers.

"At Starbucks, you can get in line and you can wait for your coffee. And they have a bunch of baristas running around getting the job done," she said. "And the workflow challenge at that Starbucks is how they're going to want that drink when I arrive, and the person who has been waiting in line is going to want to feel like they all didn't get ahead of me.

"Foundationally, a piece of what we do is enable the commingling of these different entry points of patients that are coming into that office and ordering them in a way that accounts for the throughput of that office so that if you walk in, you're slotting either above or below the person who was ahead of you, who might have booked online, in a way that ensures that we are both satisfied with that experience. It's nontrivial to actually get that done."

Lastly, the new updates include an in-app test result feature that lets providers share test results for common tests like metabolic panels, lipid panel and thyroid tests. The program started in beta and was first used for COVID-19 tests.

"The in-app test results was really a result of our partners, our customers saying, 'We want to go easy and fast, a way to communicate with our patients when their results are ready in a HIPAA-compliant experience, to be able to get that on their phone as easily as they can get other things on their phone,'" Fernandez said.

WHY IT MATTERS

Solv is pitching these new services as a way for healthcare providers to adapt and be more consumer-friendly.

“Prior to COVID, healthcare was one of the few places where consumers didn’t have access to an on-demand, digital experience. The game has changed,” Fernandez said in a statement. “For healthcare practices to meet consumer expectations, both front-end and back-end clinical operations need to be modernized. The features we’re releasing today are the enterprise-class digital backbone for ambulatory care, urgent care, hospitals, and health systems of all sizes.”

THE LARGER TREND

Solv has been adding on new products for some time. In 2018, the San Francisco-based company added on a video call function that allows providers to offer patients the option of a telemedicine visit.

Then in 2019, the company added a program that lets urgent care centers share data between its platform and the EHR.

There are several other appointment booking companies on the market today. For example, Zocdoc, which provides appointment booking and a doctor search tool, landed $150 million in February. Additionally, PatientPop, a company that helps doctors grow their practices with online scheduling tools and reviews, scored $50 million in Series C funding in August.