Five companies from molecular diagnostics to smartphone virtual reality simulators to treat anxiety disorders, representing a few countries are vying for World Cup honors in an inaugural competition organized by HITLAB at Columbia University next month. The U.S. seems to have the homefield advantage, with three of the companies hailing from California. The decision to include so many American companies makes it look more like a friendly between the MLS and a couple national teams than the FIFA World Cup it more closely resembled in the earlier stages. At the competition in Brazil this year, Germany emerged victorious.
A statement from HITLAB said it received 50 submissions from nine countries including the U.S. Although HITLAB is based at Columbia, it is not affiliated with the university.
Impact and sustainability are what count the most in the judging criteria. Innovation and feasibility are equally important but engagement, which is so critical in healthcare, accounts for a surprisingly paltry 5 percent of the overall score.
Here’s a rundown of the finalists, which will compete against each other December 1 for a $10,000 grand prize at HITLAB’s Innovators Summit.
Touch Surgery based in London has a mobile surgical simulation tool. It uses “cognitive task simulation” to break down each procedure into a series of steps and choices. It’s designed to be relevant to help trainees reach a comfort level with these procedures and help experienced surgeons brush up on their skills. The options vary from tendon repair to a mastectomy. Its app is available on iOS and Android networks.
Careticker tracks and provides and incentives to caregivers for providing care at home. Users can do certain tasks to collect rewards and also connect with other caregivers on its social network.
Owned Outcomes is all about helping clinicians and patients navigate bundled payment for care improvement. One tool the company developed for this is Discharge Director — a post acute care solution to help discharging clinicians engage patients and to help them stay out of the hospital by doing things like identifying support services in their community. It is currently working with two hospitals in Dignity Health, according to its website.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
NVS Technologies want to expand the commercial value of molecular diagnostics by moving them out of specialized hospitals and laboratories and into the much larger point of care marketplace.
Psious, from Barcelona, uses virtual reality and augmented reality as part of a therapy regimen to ease anxieties and phobias. I wrote about the company when it was part of DreamIt Health’s inaugural Baltimore class and known as Phobious. The idea is to customize the experience for each user. By providing a way for patients to gradually face their fears by intensifying the source of their anxiety in a therapist’s office, it provides a controlled setting to help them.
Update: HITLAB is an independent innovation and teaching laboratory at Columbia University but is not affiliated with the university.
