This morning the BroadReach Group announced a new cloud-based platform aimed at tackling health equity challenges. Dubbed Vantage Healthcare Technologies, the tool was designed to give providers insights into care and action steps. 

The tool, integrated with Microsoft Teams and Outlook and hosted on Azure, is designed to help healthcare organizations pinpoint underserved communities and bolster COVID-19 testing and vaccination. It can also help find coding issues that lead to incomplete medical histories.

Clinicians can tap into the AI-backed resource to help predict emergency room visits and intervene before such visits happen, according to BroadReach. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

Today the medical community is focusing on social determinants of health or the factors outside the four walls of a clinic that can affect health outcomes. 

According to the American Action Forum, only 10% to 20% of health outcomes are attributed to medical care. In fact, 40%-50% are attributed to behavior, 20% to social and physical environment, and 30% to genetics.

BroadReach is one of many companies looking to use technology to help address questions of health equity. 

"The entire health ecosystem has long struggled with disparate sources of data that often don't offer clear guidance or next steps for care," Christopher LeGrand, BroadReach Group CEO, said in a statement. "To transform healthcare, organizations need real-time access to integrated knowledge and decision-making capability, which is why we developed Vantage. By ensuring the right people make the right decisions at the right time, we're able to consistently recommend the correct course of action, contributing to optimized use of resources and improved health outcomes."

THE LARGER TREND 

Many health tech companies are focusing on health equity. In September, the newly merged Grand Rounds Health and Doctor On Demand, recently rebranded as Included Health, annouced it was teaming up with Walmart and Target on a new program aimed to eliminate health inequities for Black Americans. 

Care coordination startup Unite Us strengthened its foothold in the space with the acquisition of NowPow, a digital social determinants of health-focused startup. 

Additionally, Cityblock Health, a primary care startup focused on the Medicaid and low-income Medicare population scored $400 million in funding in September.