BRAINTREE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The promise of harnessing data for predictive, actionable analytics that assist doctors and nurses at the point of care has been in the air for a decade or more, but few hospitals have been able to make it practical. While the federally-mandated use of electronic medical record (EMR) systems has been largely completed, adapting these systems in a way that clinicians can actually access and leverage the data has been much more elusive—despite the efforts of some of the biggest players in the industry. Furthermore, a major complaint of caregivers is the amount of time they spend in EMRs inputting and searching for patient data, resulting in widespread physician burn-out.
One company in Massachusetts has been quietly working to change the tide on this trend and with the recent hiring of a new growth-focused president, they're poised to make a bigger impact nation-wide.
Clinical Healthcare Analytics/CHA has added veteran start-up leader Jerry Baker to their team as president, marking a transition from a "well-kept secret" phase to their next stage of growth.
"Bringing someone with Jerry's experience and network into CHA is a powerful statement about where we're now taking our company," explains CEO Andrew Splitz. "Over the past 2 years, we've been working to solidify our approach and build a portfolio of proven implementations among some demanding hospital clients. With Jerry's arrival, we are putting the healthcare IT world on notice that we're ready to make a much larger impact."
Baker joins CHA with a 25-year track record at a succession of angel, venture-backed and Fortune 100 companies. He held CEO and leadership roles at Info-X (acquired by 3M) and MRO Corporation, a medical records information management company. He was CEO at Halfpenny Technologies, a laboratory IT company where he led a Series-A Growth Capital Round of $6.7M. Baker has also had corporate positions with Baxter International, First Data Corporation and 3M.
Regarding his new role with CHA, Baker says, "I am very excited about the prospect of moving CHA's proven approach to clinical analytics and workflows to a much larger stage. For nearly two years now, this team has been demonstrating unprecedented success in bringing predictive analytics to the real world—serving about 40 hospitalists, case managers, and nursing managers—and demonstrating a significant impact on measures like preventing sepsis, diagnosing acute kidney injury and alcohol withdrawal—harnessing latent data that has tremendous potential for impacting both clinical and financial outcomes."
CHA's approach to frontline analytics uniquely delivers real-time visualization of critical data in a manner that time-stressed clinicians can easily incorporate into their workflow. At one site, physicians are reporting a 20% decrease in time spent in patient charts. The visualizations provide a tool for impacting perennially troubling issues for healthcare organizations and early users are reporting improvements in outcomes, revenue, and—importantly—physician satisfaction.
"This small-but-mighty team has done what many larger players in healthcare IT have yet to do," Baker says, "And I am looking forward to scaling this success by bringing in the financial resources and national leadership perspective they need to rollout the company's abilities to a much larger audience. Our industry is very eager to see this vision finally being implemented."
Over his career to-date, Baker raised over $14M in growth capital has been recognized by the Inc. 500, Deloitte and Touche Fast 500, and MidAtlantic Venture Summit Top 100. He has participated on the Boards of Directors of seven companies including Lifepoint Informatics, HSI Health, and as Chairman of Brandywine Airport in West Chester, PA. He has served as an advisor for Panasonic Corporation, Medivo, iWT Health, Spreo and others.
Prior to his private sector career, Baker was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, serving 5 years active duty and 5 years reserves. In 2016, he was awarded the Semper Fidelis Award, which recognizes individuals whose service to our Nation exemplifies the Marine Corps motto to remain “Always Faithful.” Past recipients include President Gerald Ford, Walter Cronkite, The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, H. Ross Perot, George Steinbrenner and President George W. Bush.
About Clinical Healthcare Analytics/CHA:
CHA is home to one of
the only teams demonstrating real-world success in introducing powerful
analytics at the point of clinical care. The CHA Foundation Suite is a
leap forward in leveraging an organization's EMR to deliver critical—and
actionable—information at point-of-care. CHA is finally delivering on a
long-promised vision for improved clinical care and optimized case
management through timely analytics.
