Ohio’s Hospice to work with Dayton health care tech creator

Ohio’s Hospice and Dayton’s Ascend Innovations will work together on health care-oriented software, apps and other tools, the two announced.

“Through this new partnership, Ascend and Ohio’s Hospice will be working together to build apps and to develop technology that uses data to increase access to care and the quality of care for patients in Ohio and throughout the United States,” the hospice company said in a release.

The work will be a “first-of-its-kind application of using and creating algorithms, data science and machine learning to better serve patients of Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare,” it added.

“Our partnership with Ascend is an integral part of our long-term technology goals,” Kent Anderson, chief executive of Ohio’s Hospice, said in a release. “More importantly, building technology right here in Dayton by working with local companies and organizations is important to our organization. "

The agreement reaches well beyond the Dayton area. Working through the National Hospice Cooperative, Ohio’s Hospice and Ascend will offer services to affiliate and participant hospices, as well.

“I’ve been saying it throughout 2020 — local strategic partnerships are core to our mission and vision as a life science product company,” Marty Larson, president and CEO of Ascend, said. “Ohio’s Hospice is technology driven and community centric, both of which align with where Ascend is positioning itself to truly make an impact by developing new products.”

The goals include advanced analytics, machine learning, and robotic process automation concepts.

“The collective teams are establishing a 2021 roadmap to make significant headway in developing technology in these focus areas geared toward hospice and palliative care providers,” the two companies said.

“We started with a few focused projects and now have expanded our work to include larger initiatives,” Kerry Hamilton, chief strategy officer of Ohio’s Hospice, said.

Both organizations are adding staff members to bolster business intelligence, data science, and digital capabilities in the upcoming year.

“A strategic partnership with our hometown Ohio’s Hospice is huge for Ascend,” Josh Gratsch, chief operating officer at Ascend, said.

Affiliates of Ohio’s Hospice include: Community Care Hospice, Hospice of Central Ohio, Ohio’s Community Mercy Hospice, Ohio’s Hospice at United Church Homes, Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare, Ohio’s Hospice Loving Care, Ohio’s Hospice of Butler & Warren Counties, Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton, Ohio’s Hospice of Fayette County and Ohio’s Hospice of Miami County.

Ascend is a medical technology commercial venture co-founded by Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association and Cincinnati product design firm Kaleidoscope.

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