Downtown-based health technology and care delivery company Akido Labs has become a bicoastal health care provider.

The company last month purchased a controlling stake in Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corp., which represents more than 150 primary care practitioners – from family practice, internal medicine and pediatric medicine – in the nation’s smallest state. 

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

This follows the company’s late 2022 partnership deal with Pomona-based physician network Chaparral Medical Group that marked Akdio’s transition from a pure software company to a health care provider with a software platform.

Akido, which was founded in 2015, developed a software technology that predicts social or health outcomes a person may experience given their medical history and certain life events. It also caters to the needs of patients with preexisting chronic illness who visit specialty doctors on a regular basis. 

“Akido is transforming health care by leveraging data and artificial intelligence to empower our providers and provide the best possible care for our patients,” said Prashant Samant, co-founder and chief executive of Akido. “This goes well beyond the traditional health care model of just treating symptoms; it’s about addressing the root causes before they become chronic so that we can keep our patients living longer, healthier lives.”

In a previous Business Journal story on Akido, Jared Goodner, another company co-founder and its chief technology officer, provided an example of the platform’s use.
“As a patient, I may have recently lost my job, which I happen to mention to my doctor,” Goodner said at the time. “Because our system is trained to identify markers, particularly social-determinant markers that indicate a potential progression of worsening illness, our system marks the job loss. And this results in an automatic sequence of events that gets triggered based off that (mark).”

The software could also suggest additional screenings around pre-diabetic markers, a notification that the physician and patient discuss food insecurity or send an enrollment application to the patient for a nutrition program. 

Goodner stressed that the platform is designed to support doctors in their services, not make decisions for the patient. The aim is to improve patient outcomes by focusing on preventative measures designed to keep patients from developing acute conditions that require hospitalization or other extensive care.

Up through most of 2022, Akido Labs supplied this software to various medical groups and physician practices. With the Chaparral physician group partnership, Akido integrated this software platform into that physician group’s practice.

Now, with the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Rhode Island physician network, Akido is attempting to show that its platform can be applied on a nationwide basis.

According to the announcement, Akido chose Rhode Island because, despite its small size, the state has developed a reputation as a leader in health care delivery and health policy.

“We are honored to be partnering with Rhode Island Primary Care Physician’s Corp., an organization that also believes in the power of health care to build thriving communities,” Samant, Akido’s chief executive, said in the partnership announcement. “Our shared commitment to creating an environment where providers can focus on bringing lifesaving care to patients will revolutionize the health care experience in Rhode Island and set a new standard for the rest of the country.”

As part of the deal, a joint-venture entity is being created, along with a new board for the Rhode Island physician network. That board will include two physician representatives as well as three Akido representatives.

“As a practicing family physician in Rhode Island and RIPCPC member for over 20 years, I am thrilled that our organization has partnered with Akido,” said Jeffrey Wilson, chair of the new board. “Primary care is universally recognized as the lynchpin for coordinated health services and our ability to expand on RIPCPC’s 30 years of success by utilizing Akido’s technology and expertise in population-based care models will allow us to grow together and reach more Rhode Islanders in new and impactful ways.”