East Lansing, Mich., Jan. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Velatura Public Benefit Corporation, one of the nation’s premier interoperability providers, and Spesana, Inc., a company dedicated to improving patient care with an innovative, point of care precision medicine platform,today announced a pilot project that promises to propel the advancement of precision medicine and transform the prior authorization process for oncologists and specialty providers.
Prior authorization is a process used by health insurance companies to determine if they will cover the cost of a specific medical treatment, procedure or medication before it is provided to the patient. The process is historically cumbersome and slow, with patients often waiting days, weeks or even months for a necessary test or medical procedure.
By combining Velatura’s exchange network, which connects thousands of clinicians to critical clinical information, with Spesana's clinical workflow solutions, the pilot project aims to reduce the time patients await a decision for prior authorization in treatment settings where time is of the essence.
"The administrative process of prior authorization poses significant, time-consuming and costly barriers for oncology healthcare providers, hospitals, and patients. The partnership between Velatura and Spesana aims to revolutionize the prior authorization process and enable oncology practices to provide new avenues for patient treatment choices,” said Carla Balch, CEO of Spesana. “In today’s healthcare landscape, leveraging intelligence, high-quality clinical data and advanced analytics is essential for supporting stakeholders in precision medicine and value-based care models. By joining forced with Velatura, we will be able to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to get a prior authorization, saving providers time and money and easing the anxiety of patients who are awaiting potentially life-saving treatments.”
In this joint effort, Spesana's Authorize tool will allow oncologists to expedite prior authorization requests, ensuring swift approvals required for advanced therapies and treatment options that would typically be delayed or rejected by the prior authorization process. As the collaboration between Velatura and Spesana widens, oncologists will have unprecedented and fully interoperable access to their patients’ comprehensive medical records at the point of care, empowering them to make informed decisions and create treatment plans that are efficient, scalable, and personalized from diagnosis through survivorship.
"The pilot project between Spesana and Velatura seamlessly integrates critical information, streamlines workflows and guides oncology clinicians in creating advanced, data-driven and patient-centered care plans,”said Angie Bass, MHA, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Velatura. “This alignment of cutting edge technology and interoperability is essential to accelerating precision medicine and making strides toward improved care and better outcomes for cancer patients. We are thrilled to partner with Spesana on such important work.”
The pilot project will roll out to 10 participants in Michigan and Missouri later this year. The initial launch of the program is intended specifically for oncologists but will eventually be expanded to include any and all prior authorization requests.
About Velatura Public Benefit Corporation
Velatura Public Benefit Corporation creatively connects and aligns people, organizations, technology, ideas, and information in both the public and private sectors to improve healthcare, reduce costs and to increase satisfaction of stakeholders in the health IT value chain. Through its operating units of Velatura Services, Velatura HIE Corp and USQHIN, Velatura Public Benefit Corporation looks to service the landscape of needs across the country for sustainable interoperability. For additional information, visit www.velatura.org
About Spesana
Spesana has developed a healthcare platform for all therapeutic areas in all settings of care to increase the velocity of patients moving to the right specialists with a unified medical record. Important to the mission is the focus on precision medicine, notably molecular diagnostics, and clinical collaborations to allow physicians, patients, and insurance teams to come together around the best available therapies and new clinical trials for patients. The company was founded by oncology information technology trailblazer Carla Balch and an experienced team known for building the first certified electronic medical record platform in oncology. Spesana creates real-time collaborations, decision support based on real-world data and molecular diagnostics results.
