WakeMed Health & Hospitals recently began using a Raleigh startup's software to send real-time electronic alerts to local pediatricians when one of their patients seeks emergency treatment.
WakeMed is the first hospital to subscribe to the system, which was developed by Axial Exchange. Axial was founded last year by Joanne Rohde, formerly executive vice president of worldwide operations at Raleigh-based Red Hat.
The Axial Alerts software is "all about the mission of better health through better communication," said Rohde, CEO of the eight-employee business. Axial is seeking its first round of venture capital so it can expand its business.
WakeMed is one of three local clients Axial has signed up so far, but the other two - a state agency and a clinical research organization - haven't authorized release of their names, Rohde said. The unidentified CRO, which helps pharmaceutical companies conduct clinical trials, is using the system to alert doctors when a patient fits the criteria for a drug trial.
WakeMed, in addition to alerting pediatricians when one of their patients seeks emergency treatment, is using the software to notify pediatricians of the diagnosis and treatment they received and will let the doctors know whether the patient is admitted. The alerts - which can lead doctors or their staffs to access more detailed information about the patient's condition - can be issued in a variety of ways, includinge-mail, instant messaging and phone.
The aim is to keep doctors better informed so they can provide better follow-up care, Rohde said. In addition, putting the pediatricians on notice means they can alert WakeMed, if necessary, of pertinent patient medical issues.
Making this sort of information available to pediatricians and physicians is nothing new for WakeMed. Until now, though, the onus was on the doctors to log into the hospital's system and seek it out, said Denton Arledge, vice president and chief information officer.
Now, he said, pediatricians can get the information "when they need it and when it is important that they have it."
WakeMed has been using Axial Alerts for about a month and is working with two local pediatrics practices so far, but it's available for any local pediatrician's office that wants to use it, Arledge said. He also foresees expanding beyond the pediatrics arena.
"We're excited about the product," he said. "We think we can do even more with it." Longer-term, he envisions WakeMed's using the software in a broader exchange of information among health care providers.
Axial's software, like Red Hat's, is open-source - that is, nonproprietary, with code that anyone can manipulate. The company is also making its Axial 360 software, which transfers electronic medical data into a common format that can be shared by health care providers, available free.
Arledge said Axial Alert's open-source roots make it relatively low-cost.
Annual subscriptions, depending on the size of the hospital and how extensively the software is used, will vary significantly in cost but can reach into six figures, Rohde said.
Axial was among the more than 35 companies that made presentations to venture capitalists at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development's annual Venture Conference in Pinehurst in April. Axial is seeking $4 million, and Rohde is optimistic she can wrap up a financing deal over the next couple of months.
"We are going to be the industry standard-bearer for clinical information," Rohde told the venture capitalists in Pinehurst.
