Vynca and Spectrum Health Partner to Improve Advance Care Planning in Western Michigan

PALO ALTO, Calif. and GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Vynca, the national leader in advance care planning technology, and Spectrum Health, an integrated health system providing care to more than 415,000 patients, announced a partnership to assist clinicians and patients in digitally creating and sharing advance care planning documents across the Spectrum network.

In response to COVID-19, Spectrum quickly deployed Vynca's web portal with digital advance care planning capabilities, allowing clinicians to clarify goals of care for the most vulnerable populations. This supports Spectrum's advance care planning efforts via telehealth, as clinicians are able standardize goals of care discussions and capture accurate advance care planning documents remotely. These documents will then be available across all care settings throughout the health system.

"We have successfully worked with Vynca to develop a planning packet and virtual training to raise awareness for the need of proactive advance care planning," said James Bonner, Senior Director, Patient Safety and Experience, Spectrum Health. "Proactive advance care planning is vital during the COVID-19 pandemic and going forward to allow individuals to express their treatment preferences and avoid what they may consider to be unacceptable outcomes."

Spectrum will continue working with Vynca, implementing their EHR-integrated solution in the coming weeks, making care plans accessible in the EHR at the point-of-care. Spectrum will also implement patient engagement, enabling patients to create and share advance care plans with loved ones.

"I'm extremely impressed with Spectrum's quick response and recognition of the importance of advance care planning during the current pandemic," stated Ryan Van Wert, MD, CEO and co-founder of Vynca. "By engaging patients and their loved ones in these important conversations, Spectrum is giving their patient's a voice in the care they receive, something that is important not just today, but always. We've built our solution to not only help healthcare organizations adapt to these emergency situations, but also build long-term, sustainable advance care planning programs."

Vynca currently houses more than 1 million active advance care plans for individuals across all 50 states. Partnering with over 100 hospitals, as well as health plans, ACOs, medical groups and state registries across 14 states, these organizations are realizing an impact in terms of higher quality of care at the end-of-life and the avoidance of unwanted health care interventions.

About Vynca

Vynca, based in Palo Alto, Calif., provides comprehensive advance care planning technology solutions that enable health care organizations to deliver high-quality end-of-life care consistent with an individual's preferences. The company helps patients, families and health care providers have meaningful conversations about future care preferences, ensure that wishes are documented accurately, and provides real-time access to this critical information throughout the care continuum.

Vynca is also the leading solution provider for state advance care planning registries, having first partnered with the Oregon POLST Registry to develop a bi-directional electronic interface for health care organizations in Oregon. It is also the technology vendor for the California POLST eRegistry Pilot, the Delaware DMOST Registry, the Louisiana LaPOST Registry, and the South Carolina Registry. Follow Vynca on LinkedIn and Twitter @VyncaHealth.

About Spectrum Health

Spectrum Health System, a not-for-profit, integrated health system, is committed to improving the health and wellness of our communities. We live our mission every day with 31,000 compassionate professionals, 4,500 medical staff experts, 3,300 committed volunteers and a health plan serving 1 million members. Our talented physicians and caregivers are privileged to offer a full continuum of care and wellness services to our communities through 14 hospitals, including Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, 155 ambulatory sites and telehealth offerings. We pursue health care solutions for today and tomorrow that diversify our offerings. Locally-governed and based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, our health system provided $585 million in community benefit in fiscal year 2019. Thanks to the generosity of our communities, we received $30 million in philanthropy in the most recent fiscal year to support research, academics, innovation and clinical care. Spectrum Health has been recognized as one of the nation's 15 Top Health Systems by Truven Health Analytics®, part of IBM Watson Health™.

Contact: Emelia Altschul, 914.260.1621, [email protected]

SOURCE Vynca, LLC