Faculty of Dentistry startup gives users something to smile about
By Rachel Boutet
In private dental practices, administrative processes can be inefficient, costly, and worse, negatively impact the patient experience. A University of Toronto startup is looking to address these issues through its new software solution.
Smilepass, from Smilepass Inc., provides patients with a digital experience that promotes treatment literacy and cost transparency, coupled with integrated financing and payments, all the while helping providers manage their patients more efficiently. Homam Albaghdadi 1T4, adjunct professor at the Faculty, is one of the co-founders of the company.
“Smilepass is an AI-powered patient engagement platform that streamlines and automates administrative touchpoints between patients and clinics,” he says. “We are tackling the complex issue of access to care from an administrative and communication lens. Starting from treatment recommendations and continuing through the entire patient payment journey, we aim to promote cost transparency, elevate treatment literacy, and help patients effectively manage and pay for their treatments. By doing so, we will eliminate friction points that can arise throughout the patient journey.”
Smilepass is a multi-disciplinary effort, working with expert scientists from Applied Engineering and Health Informatics and the startups own team of engineers. They are plugged into U of T’s Health Innovation Accelerator (H2i), where they get mentorship from top industry experts, and Dentistry’s own professor Paul Santerre who is cross-appointed to the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
Albaghdadi and co-founder Khash Gharavi 1T7, together with company engineers, developed software that ingests relevant patient data from clinics’ patient management software (PMS) through API integration. Through this technology, treatment recommendations are auto-populated using simplified, patient-friendly descriptions with embedded educational content and a staging roadmap accessible through a secure portal. It also automates the payment process with the ability to integrate insurance plans and flexible financing which adds convenience for both the patient and the provider.
Smilepass has been piloting in five offices for several months and is planning on expanding within their network of strategic partners.
“What we’ve seen so far is that Smilepass has significantly helped clinics increase patient case acceptance and save valuable admin time,” says Gharavi. “We’ve received positive feedback from patients describing how Smilepass helped them better understand their treatment needs, as well as from practice staff describing how it simplifies their daily work. These aspects of private practice are often manual and can be laborious – we’re happy to be able to offer a solution that streamlines these processes.”
In the near future, Albaghdadi and Gharavi say Smilepass hopes to automate even more processes.
“We are developing an AI-enabled patient engagement engine and exploring how AI can measure risk, predict treatment needs, and how these advancements can impact patient adherence and health outcomes. The possibilities are truly endless.”
Top photo: Smilepass co-founders Khash Gharavi and Homam Albaghdadi (credit: Jenna Muirhead)