This post has been updated from an earlier version to include additional comments from Techstars Managing Partner David Brown.
Health tech accelerators may be evolving, maturing and shutting down but they continue to open, nonetheless. Doing one with a hospital instead of just being one of a handful of partners, is not something one frequently sees. About one year after Intermountain Health System and Healthbox increased their collaboration through a fund to support medical device startups and an internal commercialization program at Intermountain, Cedars-Sinai has embarked on one with Techstars.
In a blog on Techstars website, Co-founder and Managing Partner David Brown said it was looking for “companies with pioneering ideas that improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health and healthcare delivery,” for the three-month program.
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He added:
“The Techstars Healthcare Accelerator, in partnership with Cedars-Sinai, will support the leading academic medical center’s focus on developing innovative approaches to medicine and science that not only further enhance the quality of the care but ensure it is provided in a patient-centered, cost-effective manner.”
Update In response to emailed questions, Brown confirmed that this is the first accelerator it has done in partnership with a hospital like Cedars-Sinai. “We of course have had many healthcare companies come through Techstars programs, especially the two classes we ran with Sprint that were mobile health focused.”
Other than the focus, healthcare technologies, and its partner, Brown said this accelerator will be run on the same model as the 19 accelerators it operates.
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He added: “We will accept 10 companies into the Healthcare Accelerator class. These companies will be announced before the accelerator kicks off in March 2016.”
Cedars-Sinai, a nonprofit hospital and research institution, has worked with several innovative health tech companies such as medical image sharing company lifeIMAGE, and on-demand service Pager. It has also backed Health Catalyst.
Hospitals are notoriously difficult places for entrepreneurs to penetrate. But if hospitals partner with an accelerator, they can help direct startups to what their specific pain points are and potentially find ways to resolve them.
To apply, click here.
You can also check out an interview with Cedars-Sinai CIO Darren Dworkin about the accelerator.
