The healthcare sector has evolved enormously in the past decade owing to new technologies, tools, and systems bringing great possibilities for the healthcare practitioners and patients. However, these technologies mostly cater to the needs of general physicians and not allied health professionals such as dietitians and nutritionists. These professionals commonly find themselves spending most of their time on administrative tasks. Claire Nichols, founder and CEO of Kalix, a dietitian herself, noticed this disparity in the market and decided to develop a solution that would automate manual administrative tasks for the private practice allied health professionals, especially maintaining medical charts in a more standardized and efficient manner. In 2012, Claire founded Kalix in collaboration with Felix Jorkowski, a software engineer, with the insights and knowledge she gained from her experience as a dietitian.

The company brings a HIPAA compliant electronic medical record, practice management, and telehealth solution that integrates patient care, scheduling, documentation, messaging, and billing into a simple platform.

At the time, in a market that mostly had hardware-based EMRs, Kalix, as a completely web-based solution, found it difficult to be accepted among the allied health professionals. The company gradually overcame this hurdle by facilitating the benefits of digital documentation and appointment scheduling along with providing the convenience of accessing Kalix from any device. Today, health professionals employ Kalix’s EMR solution to manage records and even set up virtual appointments with patients instead of in-person consultations. With Kalix’s HIPAA compliant, browser-based video conferencing, file and screen sharing, and appointment scheduling capabilities, the healthcare practitioners can conduct consultations with patients irrespective of the actual physical distance. Such services help both patients and healthcare professionals reduce costs and time by eliminating the need to travel and dedicating an office space.

Apart from providing telehealth services, Kalix features every capability for effectively managing private practices, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on patient care. Online scheduling and flexible calendars allow patients to book their appointments via practitioner’s website at any time. The practitioners can share confidential messages, files, and forms with patients securely through Kalix’s messaging service. The company takes great care of documentation with chart notes, doctor’s summaries, and other documents that the healthcare professionals need to keep track of the patients’ progress. “We try to optimize a way to create chart notes to demonstrate the improvement in patients’ health and measure their progress,” adds Claire. The company also manages insurance billing and makes it effortless for smaller practices eliminating the need for a medical biller.

The cost-effective nature of the solution gives Kalixa competitive advantage. According to Claire, these solutions usually that many a time small practices can’t afford. Kalix’s subscription model is based on the volume of practice rather than the number of users, which is most appropriate for healthcare practices with part-time and contract staff. Users can choose from the various features that Kalix offers, opting for the ones that fit their workflow. They can also cancel their subscription at any time without incurring any hidden costs. The flexibility of this solution ensures that users can customize the various features to meet their specific needs, such as creating custom templates and patient agreement forms. Kalix releases regular updates to its solution, refining current features based on user feedback and adapting to dynamic healthcare needs. With a vision to create advanced capabilities for healthcare practitioners across geographies, the company plans to set its foot in Asia with additional functionality and support for various regional languages.