Paul Domitor says RehabLogic Neurorehabilitation Treatment and Documentation System will coordinate multiple therapeutic disciplines for treating certain impairments of the brain.

After a decade in product development, RehabLogic Inc., of Spokane, has inked a contract with a Boise-area hospital management company to test and help roll out its Internet-based system for tracking standardized, integrated treatment of certain brain impairments.

The Idaho company, Eagle-based Initiatives Healthcare LLC, says it has agreed to expand its business relationship with RehabLogic if the Spokane company’s Neurorehabilitation Treatment and Documentation System performs as expected during a test at Florence Community Healthcare, a 65-bed hospital in Florence, Ariz., that Initiatives Healthcare owns and operates.

The system is designed to standardize the treatment process and the tracking of information, says Paul Domitor, president and co-founder of RehabLogic and a recently retired neuropsychologist. At the same time, it will coordinate multiple disciplines of physical, occupational, speech, behavioral-health, vocational, and recreational therapies for disorders caused by stroke, multiple sclerosis, dementia, and traumatic injuries, Domitor says. He says the system is designed for use in all care settings from the hospital to the home.

Domitor’s partners in RehabLogic are neuropsychologists Allen Bostwick and Duane Green. Neuropsychologists treat patients with certain brain impairments or injuries.

Green claims RehabLogic’s system is unique in its approach to neurorehabilitation in that it uses a type of software called a rich Internet application (RIA). The RIA is independent of standard Web browsers and is compatible with major computer operating systems, he says.

The system provides common databases for rehabilitation providers, patients and family members, insurers, home-care providers, and work-ers compensation systems. It also has security enhancements that comply with federal privacy requirements without expensive investments in equipment and software, Green says.

RehabLogic occupies about 800 square feet of office space on the fourth floor of the Sirti building, at 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd. Domitor says that Sirti, the state-funded economic development agency located on the Riverpoint Campus, has helped RehabLogic with its business planning and by providing mentoring and other services, although the company hasn’t had any sales as yet.

“Sirti has helped us through development a lot,” Domitor says. “They are on the phone with us when we talk to business prospects, and they’ve provided some assistance in marketing.”

The partners founded RehabLogic in 2000. All three shared a common interest in developing multidisciplinary treatment protocols for traumatic brain injuries, particularly mild injuries such as concussions.

While concussions are often seen as minor, their effects aren’t always short term, Domitor says.

“We noticed that a lot of people have a difficult time concentrating or remembering after a concussion,” he says. “We wanted to treat them from a multidisciplinary standpoint.”

With no yardstick to measure the success of treatment, insurers often were reluctant to pay for treatment, he says.

“We wanted to continue care, and they wanted to stop it to reduce costs,” Domitor says.

The partners realized they needed a way to measure the effectiveness of treatment and formed RehabLogic to create a software system to gauge it.

“We thought, if we could put numbers on everything, we could better understand who’s getting better and who’s not,” Domitor says.

RehabLogic’s system includes more than 50 step-by-by step treatment plans, called modules, that start with the simplest activities and incrementally grow more difficult, he says.

“Each module represents a reasonable pathway between the least challenging and the most challenging activity,” he says. “Either they can do it or they can’t. There’s very little to argue about.”

The patient has to accumulate points to continue a course of treatment. “If a person isn’t getting anywhere, the module won’t allow the provider to proceed and might suggest another module,” Domitor says.

For instance, if a patient is having trouble with one module due to a memory problem, the system would suggest trying an attention-focused module first, he says.

RehabLogic has presented the concepts behind its system on Wall Street, before venture capitalists in Chicago, and to major health insurers, all of which provided moral—but not financial—support, Domitor says.

“Everyone was excited about this approach,” but without a product to demonstrate, RehabLogic has been unable to persuade any other investors to come on board, Domitor says.

“We have funded it all along,” he says. “We didn’t have venture capital and start-up money. We’re getting there.”

The company has hired Phoenix-based software developer Josh Abel, a Lewis and Clark High School graduate, to help with software development, and three programmers working under Abel in the Ukraine are putting the finishing touches on the program, he says.

RehabLogic has taken a big business step forward with its agreement with Initiatives Healthcare, Domitor says.

“We think we’ve got a good product and partner to take us to market,” he says, adding that Initiatives Healthcare will help with marketing when the product is introduced.

RehabLogic will test its system at Initiatives Healthcare’s Arizona facility over a two- to four-month period beginning this fall. After that, Initiatives Healthcare’s relationship with Rehab-Logic could range from that of a licensee to formation of a joint venture, with Initiatives Healthcare marketing the RehabLogic system to potential users.

Initiatives Healthcare’s CEO, Dr. Edward McEachern, says the company views RehabLogic’s system as a promising neurorehabilitation product.

“We are enthused to be in the forefront of validating the results,” McEachern says. “We are looking forward to expanding our business relationship.”

In addition to the Arizona facility, Initiatives Healthcare also owns and operates University Orthopaedic Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah; the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, in Columbia, Mo.; and the University of California, San Francisco Orthopedic Institute, in Mission Bay, Calif.

Domitor says he expects RehabLogic will begin generating revenue after Initiatives Healthcare’s test, and that its founders will recover their investments in the company within a year from then.

Domitor says the system can reduce the cost of case management.

“We want to end the fight between providers and payers,” he says. “Our system scores everything the therapist does, and there are several data points where you can see whether a patient is getting better.”

As more providers use the system, it will be able to predict the cost and treatment approach that produces the best outcome for new cases, he says.

While the system is geared toward treatment of patients with brain impairments, it could be extended to orthopedic therapies, such as treatment of a broken hip, Domitor says. “Everyone we’ve shown the concept to says they think it’s the future of health care,” he says.

The RehabLogic Neurorehabilitation Treatment and Documentation System (RNTDS) is an integrated system that standardizes the treatment process and compilation of data while coordinating the multiple disciplines of physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, behavioral health, vocational therapy, and recreational therapy in the rehabilitation treatment process across all care settings. The RNTDS provides a unique approach to neurorehabilitation through a web-enhanced, integrated system that:

• Addresses problems commonly associated with neurological disorders such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, multiple sclerosis, dementia and other brain-based conditions.
• Provides common databases for rehabilitation providers, payers, home health providers, physicians, case managers, workers compensation systems, disability insurers, patients and their family members.
• Provides actuarial data with which predictive models are developed to provide evidence-based treatment plans, accurate cost estimates and an objective basis for evaluating treatment outcomes.

The RehabLogic Neurorehabilitation Treatment and Documentation System (RNTDS) incorporates current care standards as well as innovative approaches for the provision of rehabilitation care from hospital to home. There are currently fifty customized modules that address a broad spectrum of neurological impairments, and that incorporate the standard treatments commonly used by rehabilitation professionals. The RNTDS allows for the real time access and sharing of the most current treatment information by professionals, payers, and family members involved in the care process.

“We see RehabLogic’s Neurorehabilitation Treatment and Documentation System (RNTDS) as a promising product in the field of neurological rehabilitation and are enthused to be at the forefront in validating the results,” said Dr. Edward McEachern, CEO of Initiatives Healthcare. “We’re looking forward to expanding our business relationship with RehabLogic going forward.”

“We are very pleased to have formed an alliance with Initiatives Healthcare to test the RehabLogic Neurorehabilitation Treatment and Documentation System in their clinical settings,” said Dr. Paul Domitor, President and Co-founder of RehabLogic. “Their patient-focused model is an ideal environment with which to test and validate our integrated treatment system. We look forward to collaborating with IHL to refine and enhance the RNTDS for the benefit of patients, their families and other stakeholders in the treatment process.”

About Initiatives Healthcare
Initiatives Healthcare, LLC (IHL) was founded in 2005 in Boise, Idaho as a hospital management company whose purpose it to provide superior patient focused healthcare. IHL is known for founding and building state-of-the-art-facilities, including the University of Utah’s Orthopedic Center, the University of Missouri’s Orthopedic Institute as well as others. Their model is patient focused from ease of access to wellness and health education. Known for putting the “hospitality” in hospitals, they are leaders in the field of innovation in the healthcare industry and receive high marks from patients, physicians and employees. To learn more visit www.initiatives-healthcare.com

By Hatch, Addy

Publication: Journal of Business
Date: Thursday, December 5 2002 (Updated 9/2010)

RehabLogic Inc., a company founded by three clinical psychologists here, is testing its first software program at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute.

St. Luke’s already has completed initial testing of RehabLogic’s software, a neurological rehabilitation program, which tracks rehab services, measures patient results, and generates therapists’ daily progress reports, says Duane Green, one of RehabLogic’s founders. That test resulted in a 20 percent to 25 percent time savings for therapists by automatically generating the daily reports, called progress notes, he claims.

Janice White, rehabilitation service manager in St. Luke’s traumatic brain-injury unit, says RehabLogic’s software “does save time. Instead of having to hand write notes, therapists enter the data and it automatically generates the reports.”

Over time, RehabLogic’s Internet-based software is expected to help therapists compare the effectiveness of rehab procedures by linking specific procedures to patient outcomes, Green says. It also will be marketed to patients’ families, doctors, and to insurance companies so they can track a patient’s progress, he says.

Besides Green, the founders of the company include clinical psychologists Paul Domitor and Allen Bostwick. The 8-year-old company has five part-time employees here.

The first test of the software at St. Luke’s involved patients in the traumatic brain-injury unit, Green says.

RehabLogic last week started a second test at St. Luke’s that includes work with patients who have suffered strokes or have other neurological disorders, he says. St. Luke’s, a collaboration of Spokane’s four major hospitals, provides inpatient and outpatient medical
rehabilitation here.

In exchange for cooperating with RehabLogic in testing the software, St. Luke’s has been given a small equity position in the Spokane software company, Green says.

Testing also will commence soon at Eastern State Hospital, a state-run facility in Medical Lake, he says.

Although the first application RehabLogic developed is for neurological rehabilitation, the software, called the RehabLogic Treatment System, can be adapted for use with other types of treatment, such as orthopedic rehabilitation, Green says. The company hopes to introduce other applications for its system by the middle of next year, he says.

Marketing of the system is under way, and RehabLogic is in discussions with a large home-health-care provider and a company that manages workers compensation and disability claims, both of which could decide to adopt the software, he says.

“We anticipate by the middle of 2011 to have all beta testing completed and the initial product, which is neurological rehabilitation, in place with revenue-generating contracts,” he says.

At St. Luke’s, the software is being used on standard desktop computers, but RehabLogic also plans to introduce versions of its products that can be used on handheld computing devices, Green says.

RehabLogic also is developing a “home-automation” product, which should be out by mid-2004, that Green says has sparked interest from potential customers.”

That product “will do such things as, if your grandmother is in Ft. Lauderdale and doesn’t open the refrigerator door by 9 a.m., it can send you an e-mail or call your cell phone and say you’d better check on grandmother today,” he says.