NEW YORK & SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kaplan, the test prep industry leader and leading provider of preparation for the U.S. Medical Licensing ExamⓇ (USMLE) and National Council Licensure ExamⓇ (NCLEX), has acquired the assets of i-Human Patients, Inc. (IHP), a leader in cloud-based, interactive patient encounter simulations for medical and nursing professionals and educators. The purchase price was not disclosed.
i-Human PatientsⓇ is a high performance, healthcare case authoring and playback system which can simulate a complete medical patient encounter from taking a history, performing physical exams, building and ranking a differential, to ordering and evaluating diagnostic tests. Used by healthcare professionals ranging from master clinicians to first-year medical students, as well as advanced practice nursing and physician assistant students, the i-Human platform includes 500+ cases that can be configured to match the level of the learner. About a third of i-Human’s cases are based on the methodology in Symptom to Diagnosis, a book written and edited, by faculty from the University of Chicago. Symptom to Diagnosis (S2D) is an innovative way of teaching medical students how to use a case-based approach of looking at symptoms and arriving at disease diagnosis -- similar to real patient encounters.
“Simulation in healthcare is emerging as a key tool for education, assessment and medical error reduction, and we see it playing a critical and exponentially growing role in the future of high-quality, cost-effective care,” said Bharat Krishna, Vice President and General Manager of Emerging Markets for Kaplan Test Prep’s Licensure division. “IHP has developed an award-winning, best-in-class simulation system that complements Kaplan’s portfolio of industry-leading resources for students and partners. We believe there’s significant untapped potential in i-Human Patients as a leader in next-generation, cloud-based, virtual patient simulation for medical professionals, and we look forward to leveraging this capability across Kaplan’s portfolio to unleash that potential within the health education landscape.”
“Our team is excited about becoming part of Kaplan, a well-respected player with extensive experience with outcomes-based learning, online delivery, and online assessment and distribution assets in healthcare professional education markets” said Norm Wu, i-Human Patients, Inc. CEO. “We share a common mission of helping future healthcare professionals develop the critical competencies that will deliver clinical excellence. Kaplan’s global footprint will enable the i-Human platform and team to bring our world class system to a broader population of healthcare professionals and have a far greater impact than we could on our own.”
IHP will become a key capability for Kaplan’s Licensure operation, expanding current offerings in preparation for professional licensure exams, specifically for its healthcare portfolio, which serves doctors, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics.
Reliance Foundation (www.reliancefoundation.org) supported the development of i-Human platform and the S2D cases and will continue to be the exclusive partner for bringing this virtual patient simulation technology to India and help revolutionize medical education and equip healthcare professionals in achieving greater standards of excellence. Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Ltd., aims to play a catalytic role in addressing India’s development challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions in areas of health, education, and other social welfare.
Krishna noted that Kaplan is looking forward to continuing IHP’s current work with the American Medical Association (AMA) to assess the efficacy of teaching and evaluating diagnostic reasoning using the i-Human Patients simulated patient encounter system. The AMA is the principal investigator overseeing the scientific study.
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About Kaplan
Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a division of Kaplan, Inc., which serves over one million students globally each year through its array of higher education, test preparation, professional education, English-language training, and university preparation, and offerings to individuals, institutions, and businesses. Across its nearly 80 year history, first as small test-prep pioneer and then an early online education leader and now a global education provider, Kaplan has been recognized for expanding educational access and using technology and learning science innovations to continually improve outcomes for its students and partners. Kaplan has operations in over 30 countries, employs more than 15,000 full- and part-time professionals, and maintains relationships and partnerships with more than 1,000 school districts, colleges, and universities, and over 2,600 corporations and businesses. Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC) and its largest division. For more information, please visit www.kaplan.com.
About i-Human Patients, Inc.
i-Human Patients, Inc. (IHP, www.i-human.com) is a privately-funded company dedicated to enabling active e-learning in healthcare to promote the delivery of high quality, cost-effective care, and to ensure an adequate supply of healthcare providers fully trained in patient assessment and diagnostic reasoning.
