CHCF’s Health Innovation Fund invests in healthfinch, a software platform focused on improving the quality of and access to care by automating routine, repeatable tasks to make providers more efficient. California law allows nursing staff and medical assistants to authorize routine prescription refills under physician supervision — provided the prescription is in the patient’s chart as a physician-approved standing order, dosage levels remain the same, and the patient is not due for monitoring. Yet most routine refills, as many as 20 per doctor per day, are still processed by physicians. This diverts up to 30 minutes of each shift away from direct patient care.

To address this inefficiency, healthfinch created Swoop (formerly RefillWizard), software that automates the prescription refill process to save providers time while increasing accuracy. Swoop reduces inconsistent refill orders by applying evidence-based protocols to the request as it enters the electronic medical record. The software also checks for discontinued medications, duplicate requests, outstanding refill orders, and more before prepopulating the refill order and delivering it to a nurse, medical assistant, or physician for approval.

With the support of CHCF, healthfinch will expand operations to California safety-net providers.

CHCF invested in healthfinch because software-supported automation in health care has the potential to save time and money, enable staff to work at the top of their license, and improve patient care.

To learn more, visit healthfinch.