As CEO of MobileSmith Health, Jerry Lepore is driving the healthcare mobile app development company to change healthcare, one life at a time.
“We want to bring the patient in the healthcare ecosystem to the center of the care circle using two approaches,” says Lepore, who joined the MobileSmith Board of Directors in 2018 before being named CEO in January 2020. Lepore is a serial entrepreneur who has founded, managed, and sold more than a half-dozen companies.
“First, we want to engage patients in every aspect of their health through technology and applications that are necessary for them to be involved and manage their care better,” Lepore says. “Second, we want to accumulate and aggregate the data that a patient has to aid physicians and other providers in driving better outcomes for that patient and for patient populations while reducing overall costs.”
Upending the Traditional Patient Encounter
Founded in 2013, MobileSmith has targeted the key healthcare delivery segments where patients struggle, such as surgical procedure and adherence with pre-and post-operative instruction compliance, and health literacy. The company also provides innovative digital patient experiences like indoor navigation and clinic “check-ins” that directly improve patient satisfaction.
Everyone is familiar with the traditional patient experience, where the patient often feels like an afterthought to the clinician and the technology. How much time during a patient visit is taken up by paperwork and ticking electronic boxes on an electronic health records (EHR) system? How much actual time does a clinician spend listening to the patient?
“The usual patient visit is very one-sided, and lacks the necessary collaboration to achieve better outcomes for patients,” Lepore says. “So how do we flip it around? MobileSmith provides a software solution that runs on a platform that everyone has access to – a mobile device. MobileSmith provides the means to engage with the patient through mobile apps that save time, increase patient adherence, and get them more involved in their own care.”
Engaging Patients in Their Own Health
The MobileSmith PeriOp Patient Adherence app benefits both patients and providers, giving patients the tools to manage their own pre-and post-surgical tasks while reducing the administrative burden on practices. Surgeries account for 60% of total hospital revenues, and a last-minute cancellation can cost a hospital or ambulatory surgical center more than $5,200 in lost revenue. In addition, 60% of all same-day cancellations are deemed preventable, caused by patients neglecting to fast, take/stop certain medications, or show up on time.
By “prescribing” the PeriOp Patient Adherence app, patients receive instructions through the app, with notifications that pop up until each is ticked off a list. Time to quit warfarin? Check. Has the patient reviewed the pre-surgical instructions? Check. Remember the pre-surgical hospital visit today? Check. The MobileSmith app interacts with provider EHR systems, so staff can monitor adherence and manage exceptions, rather than calling every patient at every step of the pre-surgery process.
Following surgery, the app contains the discharge and after-care instructions in a readily available format, instead of printed instructions that can be misplaced or tossed out. Scheduled the follow-up visit? Check. Changed the surgical dressing today? Check. Ready for the first physical therapy session? Check.
“Our perioperative applications are a set of alerts, management capabilities, and instructions that can be adhered to by the patient on a daily basis or even hourly basis, with responses captured and presented to the clinical staff so that they can monitor what’s taking place throughout the preparation period, the day of, and the post-op period to ensure a better outcome for the patient,” Lepore says.
MobileSmith Health apps also can integrate patient-reported data from fitness trackers, blood monitoring systems and more into EMRs so providers can review that information. The company is in the final development stages of apps that help patients monitor and manage such chronic conditions as diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with a rollout expected in early 2022.
‘Pick Something You Love’
Healthcare’s move to value-based care and improving the outcomes of patient populations play well to MobileSmith’s strengths as a healthcare mobile app developer. People of all ages are accustomed to banking, shopping, browsing, and more on their mobile devices, so managing their healthcare is a natural progression.
In leading MobileSmith Health, Lepore has discovered a personal and professional sweet spot. “Two-thirds of my career has been more entrepreneurial in nature, and I decided to focus in areas that really excite me, such as education, child services, and healthcare,” Lepore says. “In finding a career, you absolutely have to pick something you love. If you don’t, then you’re not going to work at it every minute of every day with a passion that you need to, and that’s what an entrepreneur needs to do.”
“I’ve always felt that if I was focusing on things that were important to me and important to others, versus focusing on a job and a career, then I would be happier and more productive,” Lepore says. “MobileSmith Health is smack dab in the middle of the healthcare space at a great time, so it’s a fantastic fit.”
Jerry Lepore, CEO, MobileSmith Health
