Startup pitches from healthcare accelerator Blueprint Health’s third class of graduates reflected a polish and hum of professionals from healthcare and complementary industries who have been doing this for a while. The diversity and innovation behind their ideas reflected an insight gathered by entrepreneurs who included surgeons, healthcare administrators, software developers, consultants and serial entrepreneurs, most of them with several years of experience.
The approaches to tackling healthcare costs and seizing unrealized opportunities were even more diverse and ranged ranging from a surgical simulator platform to wristband technology to helping healthcare professionals cut down on hospital-acquired infections.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
A physician search engine for patients who can make appointments through the website. It is promoted to physicians who want to increase their online profile to build their practices.
Experience level: The company was launched in 2009. CEO Puneet Maheshwari has more than 15 years of experience working in technology startups in Silicon Valley and the business technology office of McKinsey & Company.
News: It added University of Pennsylvania Health System to its client list and forged a strategic partnership with Vitals, one of the largest doctor review and rating websites for comparing and finding physicians.
The company manages physician networks for associations and charges hospitals to use the network to fill positions. The goal is to cut the amount of time it takes to locate suitable candidates to fill spots.
Experience: Co-founder Greg Chang was an associate director for clinical operations and planning at Duke University Medical Center. The chief medical officer, Dr. Chris Mather, is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery for the division of sports medicine at Duke University Medical Center.
News: It’s raising $750,000 and has secured more than half with the Rothman Institute as one of its investors.
It offers a digital platform for labs so that patients can access and better understand their lab results. The physician serves as an intermediary and explains the lab results to the patients. It’s designed to increase patient compliance and improve relationships with doctors.
Experience: Shally Madan, the chief operating officer, worked at Genentech for three years. Sidd Sinha, the CEO, previously worked for Bain & Co. and in technology product development at Hawking Technologies. The company launched in 2012.
News: It has commitments for 30 percent of the $750,000 it’s raising to expand its sales and marketing. It also secured a deal with a lab the company says is the fifth largest in the country.
A mobile platform that claims to simulate any surgical procedure using any medical device. The aim is to help surgeons manage new technology by allowing them to rehearse with it, which gives them a comfort level with the growing number of devices. The program takes surgeons through each step and evaluates what they did right or wrong. Andrew Chow, the chief operating officer, said the medical device industry pays billions to train surgeons how to use their devices. It’s charging medical device companies $100,000 per year to place content on its platform to train surgeons on their devices and will charge $10,000 for each update.
Experience: Surgeons! Jean Nehme, the CEO and co-founder, has been a plastic surgeon for three years and has an honors degree in surgical simulation from Imperial College London. Chow is a general surgeon and Ad Gande, the chief technology officer, is an orthopedic surgeon.
News: It has a contract with Life Cell and signed in Covidien last week.
The company has developed a wristband to ensure compliance with hand hygiene procedures. According to CEO Seth Freedman, it can tell the difference between soap and sanitizer, and its built-in motion sensor can interpret how people are washing their hands and how long they do it. It transmits that data to supervisors. The goal is to reduce the source of 50 percent of hospital-acquired infections — poor hand washing from healthcare professionals.
Experience: Dave Mullinix, the chief technology officer, is an engineer with 15 years of experience, most recently at GPS Industries.
News: In the past three months, it has signed on four customers and generated $400,000 in revenue.
The company developed a Web-based triage service with backing from the National Institutes of Health. Patients go to the clinic’s website, ask questions about their condition based on their symptoms and fill out a medical history using prompts. The system generates a summary clinic note for the nurse to review, along with guidance. It’s designed to free up nurses’ time to let them see more patients and generate revenue for hospitals.
Experience: Oakkar Oakkar, the CEO, co-founded the company three years ago as he was doing a master’s degree in clinical informatics at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and has nine years of software industry experience. Jason Skowronski, the chief technology officer, had previously worked for Amazon.com as a software developer.
News: Since it joined Blueprint, it signed on University of North Carolina School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology patient care services as a customer. It signed an agreement with the largest after-hour triage call center in North Carolina. It’s raising $750,000 to expand the business and has so far received commitments for 350,000.
The company helps hospitals improve patient care and satisfaction by providing information to patients about their conditions through bedside tablets.
Experience: Nir Altman, a co-founder, worked as a manager for Deloitte for nine years and another six years in financial planning and analysis with American Express and The Ladders. Chief medical officer and co-founder Dr. Gabe Vorobiof is a cardiology professor with UCLA Health Systems.
News: It has contracts with 10 hospitals including Mount Sinai Hospital and nursing homes, subacute rehabilitation centers and other healthcare providers.
Oakkar Oakkar
