ST. LOUIS — An Israeli digital health firm is looking to expand its footprint in St. Louis and add employees locally after landing a major customer in the region.
The firm, Odoro, has inked a deal for its technology to be used by SLUCare Physicians Group. Founded in Israel, Odoro provides "digital patient access" technology used by health systems for online scheduling, self-registration and patient communications. The firm in October was acquired by Atlanta-based digital health company Clearwave.
The deal with SLUCare will allow for Odoro’s technology to be used for digital registration with more than 600 of the health care group’s providers, including for appointments at the newly opened SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. The new hospital is just the second major hospital system in the U.S. to use Odoro's technology, officials said.
So far, Odoro said its initial rollout of the technology at SLUCare has seen strong engagement, with more than 70% of patients completing their full pre-visit registration digitally. That widespread adoption has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, said SLUCare CEO Kevin Elledge.
“Odoro’s phase 1 project has been a success — enabling SLUCare patients the convenience of self-registering for their appointments from the comfort of their home, which is highly valued especially during COVID,” said Elledge. “The higher-than-expected patient utilization rates have also helped us maintain social distance at check-in locations.”
Odoro said it plans to soon provide SLUCare with technology that enables searching for providers and scheduling appointments online.
The Israeli company was connected to SLUCare through GlobalSTL, the international recruitment arm of local innovation hub BioSTL. GlobalSTL first met the technology firm on a recruiting trip to Israel and ended up inviting Odoro to St. Louis for the 2018 Health Innovation Summit, where the technology company held several meetings with local health care groups, including SLUCare.
Odoro co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Dikla Ranen said she didn’t realize how much potential St. Louis held for her company when she arrived here for the summit, but soon understood the region could be key to the company's growth.
“What we realized when we first came for the summit is that the St. Louis region is a great opportunity and it’s not less important than Boston or (Silicon) Valley, markets that the Israeli companies are used to thinking of,” she said.
