Richard Sztramko joins Reliq as chief medical officer

VANCOUVER – Reliq Health Technologies Inc., a technology company focused on developing innovative mobile health (mHealth) and telemedicine solutions for community-based healthcare, is pleased to announce that Dr. Richard Sztramko (pictured) has joined the company as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Sztramko works from the company’s operational headquarters in Hamilton, Ont.

“We are thrilled to have a physician with Dr. Sztramko’s experience and clinical expertise join our team,” said Dr. Lisa Crossley, CEO of Reliq Health. “His background in Geriatrics and General Internal Medicine and his entrepreneurial experience in the eHealth space will make him an invaluable resource for the Company and for our customers.

She said that as Reliq rolls out its platform to 48,000 patients at Paz Home Health and the Rio Grande Valley Health Alliance Accountable Care Organization, both in Texas, Dr. Sztramko’s clinical background will help ensure its products comprehensively support clinician workflows while delivering best in class virtual healthcare to patients.

“I’m very excited about working with the rest of the Reliq Health team to provide innovative, user-friendly virtual care and telemedicine solutions to patients in the community,” said Dr. Sztramko.

“Studies consistently show that providing patients with the tools they need for self-management of their chronic conditions produces better health outcomes and reduces healthcare costs. Reliq’s remote patient monitoring system quickly and easily collects sophisticated health data from patients in their own homes,” he said.

Reliq’s secure, cloud-based care collaboration platform provides the clinical care team, patient and family members with real-time access to patient health information, including trends over time, he said. “This helps clinicians like myself identify high risk patients and intervene early, before a serious complication develops, improving health outcomes, preventing readmissions and ER visits, reducing healthcare costs and increasing patient and family satisfaction.”

Dr. Sztramko practices Geriatric and General Internal Medicine at St. Peter’s, Hamilton General, and Juravinski Hospitals in Hamilton, Ont. Prior to joining Reliq Health, he co-founded Virtual Ward, a startup focused on healthcare provider communication within hospitals, and created an online education tool for patients with Dementia and their caregivers (iGeriCare).

Reliq’s digital health solution provides high-quality virtual care in the community by creating a “virtual hospital ward” within the patient’s home, automatically collecting vital signs and tracking medication adherence.

Reliq’s interactive voice technology provides patients with audible alerts and reminders to take their medications, collect their vitals using Bluetooth-enabled “wearables” and perform prescribed rehab or fitness activities.

Reliq’s two-way voice hub provides voice-activated access to patient education content, empowering patients and family members to proactively manage complex chronic conditions.

The Reliq Health cloud platform instantly alerts the clinical care team if a patient develops key warning signs, allowing clinicians to intervene before a health crisis occurs and preventing costly and disruptive hospital readmissions and ER visits.