THE Cebu-based healthcare outsourcing company, Qavalo, has earned funding for their Quicker Analytics for Responsive Home Health Care (QARE-HHC) project from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy Program (Cradle). It was announced last April 26, 2022, during the inception meeting and project launch attended by Dr. Jaime Montoya, Executive Director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD); Dr. Christopher Monterola, the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Aboitiz Chair in Data Science and Head of the Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship – ASITE); Qavalo Co-founder and CEO Laurice Chiongbian; and the Analytics, Computing, and Complex Systems laboratory of the Asian Institute of Management (ACCeSs@AIM) team led by Dr. Christian Alis. They were also joined by Qavalo’s Head of Innovation, John Paul Putong, and DOST-PCHRD Balik Scientist Dr. Jesus Felix Valenzuela who will be spearheading the research efforts with Dr. Alis. DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara warmly greeted the participants via a pre-recorded video.
The Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy Program (Cradle) is a component of the DOST's Science for Change Program, which aims to empower Filipino-owned companies to participate in research and development through partnerships with experts in the academe to innovate their products and processes and support the growth of the Philippine innovation ecosystem.
Qavalo’s Quicker Analytics for Responsive Home Health Care (QARE-HHC) project is the only Cradle grantee this year, making it an extra special achievement for the company. The grant project, worth PhP 4.62 million, is in partnership with ACCeSs@AIM, the first industry-facing data science and advanced analytics laboratory, making it the first of its kind in the Philippines. It houses the most powerful supercomputer in the Philippines and one of the most powerful in Southeast Asia. The QARE-HHC project aims to create a regulatory framework that can serve as a basis for best practices in the development of the nascent home healthcare program in the Philippines.
The pandemic has only emphasized the need for more efficient healthcare delivery and expanded healthcare capacity; hence, home healthcare, including telemedicine and e-health, delivers much-needed medical services to a patient’s own home and has the potential to transform the healthcare system, particularly for the elderly and for those living in remote regions of the country. Innovations like this are necessary to keep up with the times, address gaps in the care continuum, and provide more sustainable health services to people. Building upon these, the goal of the QARE-HHC project is to lay the technological groundwork to further develop home healthcare for Filipinos.
Since its founding in 2016, Qavalo has always been pushing for innovation as evidenced by the company’s past AI-enabled projects with AIM, which inspired the company to pursue a more pivotal and relevant project.
These innovation efforts have not gone unnoticed as Qavalo won Gold (Innovation in Technology Development - Other Service Industries) and Silver (Innovative Management in Business Product & Service Industries) in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards out of 900 nominations. The Stevie® Awards is an international business awards competition that has become one of the world's most coveted recognitions. It is open to all organizations in the 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region, and the winners were announced last April 20, with the official virtual awards ceremony to be held on June 29.
With these milestones, Qavalo continues on their path of achieving its vision of improving quality of life through quality healthcare by pushing for innovation and inspiring others to do the same. Qavalo Co-founder and CEO Laurice Chiongbian shared, “We embark on this new chapter for the Philippines' healthcare industry armed with valuable insight and the opportunity of a changed, post-COVID world. We let not the challenges of the last two years destroy our resolve to pioneer a better world, but rather inspire us with this glimpse into the future.”
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