MUSC Health and The MetroHealth System create Ovatient

New partnership aims to redesign traditional care delivery model while maintaining connectivity to health systems’ clinical expertise

CHARLESTON, S.C. and CLEVELAND (Oct. 24, 2022) –The Medical University of South Carolina health system (MUSC Health) and The MetroHealth System (MetroHealth) have formed a partnership that creates Ovatient, a new, comprehensive virtual and in-home care non-profit company with the aim of transforming health care delivery while building and maintaining connectivity to health systems and the high-quality care they provide. The new approach also signals an opportunity for health systems to pool resources and address common health care workforce issues by working together, such as increasing access to a limited number of behavioral health and specialty care providers instead of competing against each other for them. 

“Ovatient shifts care away from traditional care delivery sites and brings it to the customer. With our proprietary platform, we will accelerate and scale it, not just across MetroHealth and MUSC Health but to other health systems throughout the country,” said Michael Dalton, Ovatient CEO and entrepreneur-in-residence at MetroHealth. “Ovatient will help enable a health system’s digital transformation journeys and provide a user experience and care delivery model that has the best interests of patients and providers at its core.”

As numerous health outcomes data sources demonstrate, health systems and their caregivers are best positioned to serve patients across a wide spectrum of health conditions, especially given their commitment to infusing research and best practices into their clinical care. As nontraditional health care providers continue to enter the health care ecosystem and seek to capitalize on digital technologies and the convenience they provide, MUSC Health and MetroHealth created Ovatient to offer the same convenience and a better experience all while preserving the connectivity to acute and procedural care sites so that patients do not endure fragmented care experiences.

“Built for health systems by health systems, Ovatient represents an opportunity to multiply our collective wisdom and clinical expertise in telehealth and care delivered in the home. We look forward to engaging with other like-minded health systems who believe that together, we can make history by creating a new way of serving patients and addressing their health needs,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO and executive vice president of Health Affairs, University.

Currently, Ovatient is working with providers at MUSC Health and MetroHealth to build clinically informed technology to support clinical workflows and provide a seamless continuum of care to existing and new customer bases. Both health systems are committed to improving care access not only in South Carolina and Ohio but across the United States, meeting patients where they are and connecting them with trusted, evidence-based health systems.

“We are positioning Ovatient not just as a company but as a care model that puts patients first,” said Akram Boutros, M.D., MetroHealth president and CEO. “Ovatient redesigns the way patients receive care and through its holistic, innovative approach will help patients access high-quality care, informed by the clinical experts at our respective health systems, anytime and everywhere.”

For more information, visit www.Ovatient.com.

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About MetroHealth

Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through four hospitals, four emergency departments, and more than 20 health centers and 40 additional sites. Each day, our 8,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable health care–through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services–that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.

About MUSC 

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state’s only comprehensive academic health system, with a unique mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates more than 3,000 students in six colleges – Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy – and trains more than 850 residents and fellows in its health system. MUSC brought in more than $297.8 million in research funds in fiscal year 2022, leading the state overall in research funding. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 14 hospitals with approximately 2,500 beds and five additional hospital locations in development; more than 350 telehealth sites, with connectivity to patients’ homes; and nearly 750 care locations situated in all regions of South Carolina. In 2022, for the eighth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets totaling $5.1 billion. The nearly 25,000 MUSC team members include a world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, students, affiliates and care team members who deliver and support groundbreaking education, research and patient care.