athenahealth grows its More Disruption Please accelerator program

athenahealth has welcomed three new companies to its More Disruption Please (MDP) program.

The vendor's San Francisco accelerator program announced three portfolio companies that have joined the roster: 

• Hale Health, a clinical communications platform that connects providers and their patients between visits;
• Lifesquare, a patient-controlled and patient-owned health data solution that securely relays a patient's essential health information to qualified health care professionals via a quick response (QR) code; and
• PatientPop, the first practice growth platform and all-in-one health care provider solution for patient acquisition, retention marketing, reputation management, and insights.

All investments receive seeding funding, free office space, mentorship and access to athenahealth's network of 64,000 providers.

"There's substantial opportunity to improve healthcare delivery and create efficiencies within, as well as outside the traditional exam room," said Anna Larson, CEO of Hale Health. "By joining athenahealth's MDP Accelerator program, we can grow the number of healthcare providers who are able to deliver effective and seamless remote care. athenahealth offers an easy path for expedited integration, which will allow our service to become available at scale to thousands of providers. We're thrilled to partner with one of the industry's leading mission-oriented players and plug into the power of healthcare's largest national cloud network."

"Transforming an innovative solution into a business and gaining traction in the healthcare market is an uphill battle that too many entrepreneurs face," said Kyle Armbrester, vice president of business development, athenahealth. "At athenahealth, we are uniquely positioned to support the next generation of healthcare innovators, and see it as our responsibility. We are excited to offer in-house expertise to help our portfolio companies refine their solutions and scale within the athenahealth userbase and beyond."

Meanwhile, the MDP Accelerator program is looking for high-potential startups with provider-facing solutions. The MDP Austin Accelerator is now accepting applications from local, mid-stage healthcare startups, while space for the accelerator will be determined in the coming months. MDP Accelerator locations in Boston and San Francisco will continue to assess applications on a rolling basis.