A healthcare IT platform to help hospitals improve patient compliance for chronically ill patients and reduce readmission rates for these patients has received $50,000 from Pennsylvania economic development arm Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, according to a statement from the agency.
ArioTech received $50,000 for its healthcare IT platform to improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital costs. It using the funding to conduct a pilot program with three hospitals in the Northeast focusing on congestive heart failure patients. The platform is designed to help them better manage their drug regimens, symptoms and develop a better understanding of their diseases.
As part of the deal for the investment, the New Jersey-based company is moving to Ben Franklin’s incubator offices in Bethlehem by the end of the month, according to ArioTech’s CEO Andy Saffarian.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Ariotech’s Mobile Medical Digital Assistant can provide physiological, two-way video communication between a patient and his or her medical providers, discharge planning on one platform, integrating it with existing EMRs. The setup allows medical providers to monitor patients on one dashboard.
Ben Franklin’s investment is part of a series A round the company is conducting to raise $500,000 in 2012. It is also seeking funding from angel investors. Next year it will aim to raise $2.8 million in a series B round.
Congestive heart failure is one of three chronic disease areas that hospitals are trying to reduce 30-day readmission rates for because they face reduced reimbursement if they surpass the national averages for these patients as part of the Center for Medicare Services’ Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.
Saffarian told MedCity News its company provides a low-cost option for what has been an expensive system and uses a prescription model. “The recent policy changes from CMS give added incentive for hospitals to use this technology.”
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Saffarian, who started the company three years ago, and comes from a technology background, having worked at Intel and Honeywell, said his motivation for developing the platform came from his experience as a cancer patient and seeing the need for improved communication between patients and their care providers.
Among its other components, the platform also aspires to get patients to more efficiently communicate with their care providers about physiological information like blood sugar, blood pressure and pulse oximetry.
The investment was part of a round of investments totaling $342,547 in companies in the Northeast Pennsylvania region.
Additionally, $70,000 in follow-on funding was allocated to BioSample Solutions, a company that has developed a simplified, efficient process for extracting DNA from blood samples. The company is located in Ben Franklin Technology Partners TechVentures incubator space. The that utilizes an efficient, simplified process for extracting DNA from blood samples at twice the speed of current methods. The investment will help commercialize the testing platform and help develop more sophisticated drugs and personalized medicine regimes.
