The healthcare industry is about to witness a transformation similar to the one that has redefined the software industry in the last 2 decades. Where DevOps emerged as a groundbreaking methodology to build, deliver, and continuously improve software, CareOps will do the same for healthcare processes and workflows.

Today we announce a $5m Seed investment led by Octopus Ventures, S16 (including the founders of Miro and UIPath), with the support of esteemed healthcare professionals like Lord David Prior, former chair of the NHS to fuel our vision to build a CareOps platform.

The Dawn of CareOps: Taking Inspiration from DevOps

Before the era of DevOps, the world of software development consisted of fragmented teams, lengthy deployment cycles, and a constant battle between developers and IT operations. It was a time when developing and deploying a piece of software took months, if not years, bogged down by inefficient workflows and communication barriers.

Then, DevOps emerged, transforming the whole industry through the integration of development and operations teams, streamlined processes and frequent, incremental software releases. The result was not just accelerated software deployment but also enhanced quality, reliability, and security.

Today, healthcare grapples with similar challenges as the software industry prior to adopting DevOps. Despite rapid technological advancement and billions of investments into software such as the implementation of Electronic Medical Records, the industry faces bigger challenges than ever: escalating costs, alarming labor shortages and a concerning rise in physician burnout, while quality of care hasn’t meaningfully improved.

These issues are symptomatic of a foundational problem: fractured clinical workflows and patient journeys, ill-equipped for the demands of modern healthcare. Much like the software industry before the advent of DevOps, healthcare finds itself tangled in inefficiencies, fragmented practices, and outdated systems.

The answer is streamlining and improving workflows. But the current reality means these workflows are stuck on paper and it takes too much time and resources to implement them for the care team members using them daily.

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Enter CareOps. Covering the full lifecycle from design to continuous improvement, this methodology enables care teams to break down silos between clinicians, clinical operations, software engineers and all other stakeholders who participate in the creation and implementation of care processes. Just like DevOps, CareOps helps those organizations who adopt it to accelerate the pace of change. The lead time from gathering the right stakeholders around an improvement to a clinical workflow to deploying it in clinical practice is vastly reduced so an organization can update its care processes and patient journeys much more often. 

Results of implementing CareOps include solutions to the big challenges outlined above: reduction of processes that require clinical staff time but don’t impact outcomes, increased automation of steps that represent the biggest cost drivers, improved collaboration and coordination between care team members and better outcomes for patients thanks to consistent following of evidence-based practice.

The time is ripe for healthcare to embrace this transformation. With CareOps, the sector has a promising roadmap to navigate its challenges and redefine patient care.

Awell: Leading the CareOps Movement

Recognizing the urgent need to transform fragmented clinical workflows, we developed a single platform that allows care teams to transition from dated paper-based workflows to dynamic, adaptable digital processes. Customers are reaping significant value from this new approach supported by our platform. A recent study at AZ Delta showed that orchestrating a singular care flow for lung cancer with Awell led to a staggering 55% surge in patient survival at one year follow-up. But it's not just clinical studies that validate Awell's approach. Industry leaders are also taking notice. Visionary organizations like Patina, Parsley Health, and Mindler are already sprinting ahead, championing the agile approach in crafting and relentlessly refining clinical workflows.

The 6x increase in enrolled patients onto the Awell platform in just the first half of 2023 showcases the urgent demand for such a transformation. By empowering medical teams with tools that automate and continuously improve clinical workflows, we're directly addressing the inefficiencies that have plagued the sector for years.

At the same time, Awell is also fostering a vibrant CareOps community as a way to foster a rising tide for all boats. With over 3,000 healthcare operators now united under the banner of CareOps, we're witnessing a collective, industry-wide push towards a better way to build, deploy and continuously improve care processes that drive better outcomes and lower cost of care..

What's Next for Awell?

Our Seed investment is more than just a financial boost; it represents a belief in our vision and a commitment to support the CareOps movement in healthcare. We’ll use the funds to accelerate product development, ensuring that Awell's platform is not only intuitive but also ahead of the curve in addressing the needs of today's clinical workflows. With a focus on the US market, we're eager to foster deeper collaborations with care organizations, driving a shift towards more efficient and effective workflows.

As we move forward, our commitment remains unwavering: to be at the forefront of the CareOps movement, empowering healthcare professionals with the tools and insights they need to deliver exceptional patient care. The journey is vast, but with the backing of our investors and the passion of our team, we're poised to redefine the future of healthcare.