Health IT, Hospitals, Startups

Intermountain Healthcare allocates $35M to innovation fund to support collaboration with Healthbox

Intermountain Healthcare and healthcare startup accelerator Healthbox outlined a few months back how they would […]

Intermountain Healthcare and healthcare startup accelerator Healthbox outlined a few months back how they would deepen their collaboration in a few different ways. The goal has been to encourage young companies that could improve the quality of healthcare and make healthcare more affordable. A form D filing for Intermountain Healthcare Innovation Fund I on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website shows $35 million has been allocated to the fund.

A spokesman for Intermountain confirmed that the fund is to support the collaboration between Intermountain Healthcare and Healthbox and represents a multiyear investment.

In November, Healthbox and Intermountain detailed how they would increase their collaboration this year. Healthbox launched a foundry program inside Intermountain to support entrepreneurs within its community. The foundry model is a process designed to receive and evaluate internal ideas and determine which ones can be successfully commercialized. It’s intended to reduce the time it takes to figure out whether an entrepreneur’s product is commercially viable.

Healthbox is also working with the health system on strategic investments for external companies. The idea is to source companies and develop partnerships that include investment and potential customer relationships.

In a phone interview, Healthbox Director Amy Len said the first Foundry program wrapped up last month with four ideas from Intermountain employees going through it. She said it is still evaluating whether to back those ideas through the fund.

On the subject of external investments, Len said the fund is looking to make a few investments shortly. “Investments will focus on series A level opportunities aligning with Intermountain Healthcare’s strategic goals and vision.”

Len said that although a few Healthbox accelerator grads are being considered, graduating from its program wasn’t a pre-requisite for consideration.

[Photo Credit: Collaboration from Flickr]

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