CLEVELAND —  Vytalize, a New York-based medical technology company and accountable care organization, set out to change the way the current health care system works.

What You Need To Know

  • Vytalize has acquired Cleveland-based company MedPilot

  • All current employees at MedPilot will be staying and working in the city

  • The companies aim to create a better connection and provide direction with individuals who need health care help

“Care that takes care of the whole person — not just kind of transactional but really what else is going on with the patient? How’s the body? How’s the mind? How’s the soul a little bit," said Faris Ghawi, the CEO and founder. "What’s going on there? What are you after as a patient? How can I help you achieve your goals? That is not something that the old health care model addresses and that is not something that providers can do on their own."

Ghawi said their focus is on the elderly population. They partner with existing medical practices nationwide on a more proactive patient approach.

He said it's more about health care than “sick care.”

“They’re in and out of the ER, using the emergency room as primary care (and) don’t really have access to advice on any given point on-demand. So they’re accessing health care the way that it was not supposed to be accessed, but the way that it has ended up due to misaligned incentives,” Ghawi said.

Vytalize partners with health care providers like Dr. David Moody, who said the ACO helps to keep track of their 10,000 patients.

“An immense change in the last three years. Vytalize, the information that they keep up with that they provide for us, makes it much much easier for us to be able to keep in contact with the patient, No. 1, and No. 2, make sure that that patient is getting everything that we need to do for that patient, done," Moody said.

When it was time to expand their reach, Ghawi said Vytalize looked to Cleveland-based company MedPilot. The tech company specializes in medical billing.

“The same technology, the same infrastructure that was there to make patient billing easier and simpler to understand is now also being used around clinical conversation," Ghawi said.

They said the move benefits both companies but it's also a win for Cleveland’s growing tech industry.

“They built an incredible business, an incredible culture. So why Cleveland? It’s got amazing talent, right? It already has that health care establishment because of some of the large players in healthcare. So the health care talent there is really great in addition to the technology," Ghawi said.

All MedPilot employees will remain with the company and in Cleveland, something that was important to the company’s founders.

“Cleveland was really important to MedPilot. Why did we choose it? We had no choice. They wouldn’t have it any other way," Ghawi said.