First GetWell Labs initiative offers cloud-based mobile feedback solution for patient rounding and real-time feedback
Bethesda, Md., July 29, 2014 – GetWellNetwork®, Inc., the leader in Interactive Patient Care™ (IPC) solutions, today announced the acquisition of Encinitas, Calif.-based Marbella Technologies™. The acquisition is the first for the company since announcing the creation of GetWell Labs™, a research and development initiative that serves as an incubator for disruptive patient and family engagement technologies.
Marbella expands GetWellNetwork’s current offerings with a mobile data collection tool optimized for provider settings to support hourly rounding, patient satisfaction and dynamic surveying needs. Marbella’s technology will also be available as a stand-alone application, allowing GetWellNetwork to make its IPC solution available to a broader segment of the health care market.
“GetWellNetwork’s acquisition of Marbella represents a significant milestone in our journey as a creator and aggregator of innovative patient and family engagement solutions across the care continuum,” said Michael O’Neil, founder and chief executive officer of GetWellNetwork. “We’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our client providers and to their patients and families, and we are thrilled to welcome the Marbella team and their clients to our GetWellNetwork community.”
Marbella’s easy-to-implement, SaaS-based mobile technology allows health care providers to collect patient feedback inexpensively and in real time. Specifically, clinicians use the Marbella solution to capture patient perception-of-care data during daily rounding, in the emergency department and from other locations within the facility, and automatically notify care teams for service recovery if there is a perceived service issue. In addition, the tool can be used for employee reviews, staff engagement and a variety of surveying and feedback needs.
Perception-of-care data is used to increase patient satisfaction and HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) scores, a standard industry survey containing 21 patient perspectives on care and overall ratings. In the April 2014 HCAHPS reporting cycle, Marbella clients outperformed the national average by 450 percent. Hospitals using Marbella’s technology include JFK Memorial Hospital, Eisenhower Medical Center, Susquehanna Health, PinnacleHealth, Desert Regional Medical Center and others.
“The Marbella Smart Rounding™ solution helped us understand our patient’s perception of care, implement real-time service recovery and, ultimately, raise our patient satisfaction scores,” said Karen Flaherty-Oxler, Chief Nursing Officer at Lancaster General Health. “This is a valuable tool with a measurable impact on patient satisfaction, and I can’t think of a smarter complement to a comprehensive patient engagement strategy.”
“I started Marbella Technologies with the goal of helping health care providers capture valuable information on their patients’ care experience in order to improve that experience,” said Vinnie Whibbs, founder and CEO of Marbella. “GetWellNetwork is leading the patient engagement space, and Marbella is well positioned to support and contribute to the IPC delivery model that is transforming health care for patients and providers.”