A Nashville medical device company is working on a new approach to EKGs that is easier, more convenient and more portable than current 12-lead systems.
Invision Heart is developing both the hardware component that takes the EKG and the software that turns the scan into a digital file.
“We will take patient data and then upload it to the cloud to give the doctor access to make quick decisions,” said InvisionHeart CEO Joshua Nickols.
EKGs are an example of another healthcare communication process that desperately needs updating. The current solution involves – you guessed it – paper and faxing.
“EKGs as they exist in the hospital are 20- or 30-year-old devices that print paper, and they’ve gone overlooked as a problem over time,” he said. “We are updating a critical diagnostic tool that is still wedded to an old way of data transmission.”
The file would be available to all providers in an institution.
“If the doctor has a nurse practitioner supporting her work, she could double her workload,” Nichols said. “This system also could work in nursing homes or minute clinics.”
Invision Heart has also updated the form factor of the device. The prototype is the size of a deck of cards.
“By having a very small form factor, the device could be brought to the patient much more easily,” he said. “Also with the back-end piece, a doctor could look at the EKG at home.”
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The system would also allow an archive of patient EKGs. Nickols said that there is potential for Medicare fraud if EKG reports are unsigned. His solution would take care of that problem as well.
Nickols came to Nashville 15 years ago to get a doctorate degree in molecular neuroscience from Vanderbilt University. He also has an MBA and was the CTO for a molecular diagnostic company.
InvisionHeart has been around for about year, and went through the Jumpstart Foundry program in Nashville. InvisionHeart has raised some angel capital so far and is looking to raise a series A round of $750,000 to $1 million.
Nickols estimates that he needs a year to get to market with the new system. He said the prototype has demonstrated proof of concept and now he is working with a manufacturer to commercialize the device.
“We need a robust software architecture to capture the data and make it available from the point of acquisition to a doctor’s smartphone or tablet,” he said.
