Philadelphia has reached a new milestone in the drive to build its startup healthcare ecosystem. DreamIt Health’s inaugural class includes 10 startups. The four-month program co-sponsored by Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine includes members seeking to develop tools for healthcare providers to speed up diagnoses and improve outcomes.
The accelerator will be housed at Venturef0rth, a shared workspace for early stage companies run by Dr. Elliot Menschik, who will co-lead the accelerator with DreamIt Health Managing Partner Karen Griffith Gryga.
The aim is to foster early stage companies developing tools to provide more effective and affordable interventions at the point of care. Each startup will get a stipend of up to $50,000. During the program, they receive mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs and people in the healthcare ecosystem.
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“At IBC, we believe that innovation is the key to bringing fresh ideas into healthcare, and are working to transform the Philadelphia region into a national magnet for healthcare innovation, investment and employment,” said IBC CEO Daniel Hilferty in a company statement.
The 10 companies selected are:
AirCare: A mobile startup to help hospitals prevent readmissions and improve patient outcomes using telenursing and patient-specific analytics.
Biomeme: A mobile molecular diagnostics device to help point-of-care clinicians and epidemiologists diagnose and track infectious diseases in real time with smartphones.
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Fitly: The company wants to help health plans deal with the childhood obesity epidemic by engaging and motivating at-risk families with gaming and convenient delivery of healthcare.
Grand Round Table: Its application helps clinicians rapidly diagnose complex cases by matching the patient’s electronic record against millions of other cases drawn from around the world.
Medlio: The mobile app aims to help physicians get paid faster and get rid of paper-based registering forms with a virtual health insurance ID card to sync the right information among patients, providers and payers at the point of care.
OnShift: Helping hospitals improve patient outcomes through instant communications between clinicians caring for the same patient is the goal of this healthcare communications system. It also wants to remove obstacles to effective care delivery and care transitions.
Osmosis: The learning management system helps medical institutions develop clinicians who better retain and apply knowledge through a Web and mobile platform that uses cutting-edge cognitive techniques.
MemberRx: A solution intended to improve the way pharmaceutical costs are controlled by enabling selection of the best generic or on-formulary branded drug for a specific patient through an electronic medical record system.
SpeSo Health: The online analytics platform identifies and accesses medical expertise in rare and complex diseases.
Stat: The Web and mobile app helps providers and payers make patient transport more efficient, and lower costs by matching and dispatching idle transportation resources.