Imagine a waiting room with no paper forms to fill out, where the health information is tailored for your needs.

Seamless Medical Systems (since renamed GetWellNetwork) uses iPads to provide patient registration, digital patient health education, and ongoing patient communications customized to individual health needs. The CHCF Innovation Fund partnered with Seamless after hearing from community health center leaders across California that they wanted to improve the patient appointment check-in experience and make the registration process more efficient. Digital tools present an ideal opportunity to improve medical practices, and they are prevalent in systems that serve mostly insured patients, but to a great extent these technologies have yet to be embraced by those who care for communities with low incomes in California.

The CHCF Innovation Fund supports health care technology companies that are trying to improve quality of care, lower costs, and improve access to care in the safety net. I talked with Seamless CEO David Perez about his company and about the progress and challenges in modernizing health care delivery.

Q: You have had a long career in the internet industry, launching companies and raising capital with a particular focus on the Latino market. What drew you to pursue opportunities in the health care safety-net setting?

A: I grew up in a medical family. My mother was a nurse who grew up in New Jersey, and my dad was a surgeon who emigrated from Bolivia in the 1950s. Many of my dad’s patients were low-income Latino immigrants who sought him out because he spoke their language and always cared for people regardless of their ability to pay. As an entrepreneur, I started Seamless because I wanted to do something that would have a meaningful impact on a large number of people, and to honor my father’s legacy.

Q: How has replacing paper with iPads transformed the medical practice for frontline staff, nurses, doctors, and administrators?

A: A clinic in New Mexico saved 80 person-hours of data entry after using Seamless for a month. Another clinic came back to us after only one week and said, “We don’t even know how to use paper anymore!” Replacing paper with an iPad eliminates the use of thousands of sheets of paper and reduces one’s carbon footprint. It also eliminates time-consuming, paper-related tasks such as data entry, scanning documents, shredding paper, and managing paper files. These efficiencies allow practices to focus on providing customer service and clinical care, as opposed to paperwork.

The greatest challenge to expanding innovations like Seamless is time. Medical practices are all very busy, and it’s difficult to get enough of their attention to discuss how Seamless can make their practice or clinic more efficient.

Q: How does Seamless improve not only data collection but also the overall patient experience? What exactly does it change for patients?

A: For all patients the platform saves time, eliminates repetitive questions, and gets directly to patient needs based on their previous responses, so it’s about using a device that’s responsive to their own health profile.

I’ve personally visited clinics where Seamless is in use and have asked patients in the waiting room what they think. One woman shared that she wished all her doctors had Seamless. During another visit I saw an elderly woman react negatively to having to use an iPad, claiming she did not know how to use computers. After a short explanation from the receptionist at the office, she was able to complete the process very quickly and even told the staff there she wanted an iPad for herself! When we started building Seamless, we took into account all literacy levels and wanted to be accessible even to 80-year-olds who had not used a digital device.

Q: How is paperless administration changing health care delivery from the provider’s perspective?

A: Especially in the case of FQHC providers that serve very diverse populations, staff members don’t always speak English as their first language. Seamless makes it easier for them to gather complete and accurate information from patients and to reduce the stress of discussing confusing forms. The forms are then uploaded to the EMR automatically. More complete information supports clinical care and revenue cycle management. Some clinics have let us know that their patients think of them as being on the leading edge of technology because of Seamless. Their patients spread the word and recommend the clinic to friends and family.

Q: What other areas do you see in health care that look like opportunities to reinvent care for better patient outcomes in care, choice, control?

A: Health care needs a lot of innovation in chronic care management and health care literacy. These issues are separate but also related in many ways. The challenges in these areas exist for all populations, but particularly for the underserved.

Learn more about the CHCF Innovation Fund.