Mavencare, a home care startup, has teamed up with a Canadian hospital — The Salvation Army Toronto Grace Health Centre — in an effort to prevent hospital readmissions.

With offices in Toronto, New York City and Boston, Mavencare harnesses technology to provide hospital-quality care to seniors in their own homes. The company vets caregivers and matches selected applicants to specific patients based on their needs. During service appointments, caregivers use the Mavencare mobile app to collect data about each patient’s medical conditions. The company then uses algorithms and machine learning capabilities that identify potential risks in the patient.

Toronto Grace, a 119-bed hospital, focuses on managing patients with multiple medical issues requiring complex care.

“During the early transition period, it’s critical that our clinicians stay connected and receive timely updates of any early emerging problems that we might preemptively address before they become serious enough to require going to the emergency department,” said Toronto Grace president and CEO Jake Tran in a statement.

Through the collaboration, the hospital will utilize Mavencare’s technology and approach. The Mavencare clinical nursing team will work Toronto Grace care managers to coordinate care, said Mavencare co-founder and CEO Adam Blackman in responses sent via email. The goal is to reduce emergency department visits and hospital readmissions as well as facilitate early rehabilitation.

Additionally, the partnership is “aligned with the Ontario government health system shift towards promoting better coordination of health services across care settings to promote more efficient hospital discharges and reduce ‘hallway medicine,'” Blackman said.

He did not disclose any specific financial details of the relationship.

“The goal of this collaboration is to promote better transitions from hospital to independent living in the community,” said Blackman. He added that his company hopes it will be a “catalyst for future collaborations between major hospital systems and innovative technologies.”

Blackman, a physician by training, founded Mavencare with engineer Nukul Bhasin in 2015. After launching in Toronto, it expanded its service coverage to New York City in 2016 and spread to Boston last year.

Photo: jacoblund, Getty Images