Healthbox revealed the 10 digital health startups in its latest cohort of Heathbox Studio, in a news release. Most of the companies have business-to-business payment models across pediatrics, clinical decision support and physician practice management. Healthbox’s program, which has evolved considerably since its start in 2010, fosters relationships between startup founders and industry leaders.
Here’s a look at the early stage businesses:
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
Agathos is a mobile analytics platform designed to help physicians identify practice patterns and quantify the value of the care they provide. Founders Andrew Trees previously worked for Epic Systems and Steve Waye had worked for IMS Health (now QuintilesIMS), and have known each other since they met at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and cofounded the business in 2015.
Qidza developed the app Baby Noggin to provide a screening tool for parents to help them spot developmental delays in their child. Using developmental screening tests, they can also track child development milestones in their child’s life and share that data with pediatricians. It provides a way for physicians to increase the developmental screenings they do, which are reimbursed by insurance companies, according to the company, and can connect parents and children to local resources and treatment when needed. The company was founded in 2015 by Avishaan Sethi (vice president of engineering) Jin Lee (CEO) and Jonathan Tuttle (vice president of product) and is based in San Francisco.
Care Advisors in Chicago specializes in health benefits navigation and offers live navigation assistance to hospitals and managed care organizations to help them improve patient relationships. It also integrates online patient access services to reduce uncompensated care by resolving consumer financial assistance concerns, according to the company’s website. Chris Gay is the CEO.
EnsoData is a Madison, Wisconsin-based software-as-a-service business that uses machine learning to automate complex, time-consuming data
interpretation. Althougth it secured clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a clinical decision support sleep disorder analysis tool earlier this year, the company is also interested in using its technology to monitor signs of chronic disease progression such as detecting heart rhythm irregularities. Cofounders Chris Fernandez, the CEO, and Nick Glattard, the CTO, have backgrounds in biomedical engineering.
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.
IllumiCare is based in Birmingham, Alabama and claims to have developed an electronic medical record agnostic platform to highlight patient-specific costs, risks, and other relevant data that helps inform physicians’ decisions about treatment recommendations, according to its website. GT LaBorde is the CEO and founder.
KelaHealth predicts risk for surgical complications with machine learning and also helps inform surgeons on best-practice guidance. Dr. Bora Chang is the CEO and founder —she previously founded a data visualization tool to support clinical workflows called KaiRx. She is one of six cofounders for the company which has received seed funding from Duke Surgery, the National Science Foundation, and the Duke Institute for Health Innovation, according to kelaHealth’s website.
Parasail is taking on the challenge of making medical bills easier for patients to resolve. It helps patients apply for fixed-term loans with monthly payments that they can manage. The company sees an opportunity for this approach given the shift in healthcare that requires patients to dig deeper for out-of-pocket costs. Adam Tibbs and Todd Kimmel cofounded the San Francisco-based business.
Smart Clinic delivers better health outcomes through sending educational content and automated procedure preparation reminders directly to
patients anywhere, anytime, on any device, according to the news release. Paul Berggreen founded the Phoenix-based business and serves as the chairman. Robert Backie is the CEO.
SonderMind is a matchmaking service for therapists and patients. The Denver-based company is also set up to help therapists manage their practices by driving more patients to them, connecting them to a network of their peers and providing an insurance contracting and credentialing platform. Mark Frank, cofounder and CEO, is a serial entrepreneur and also managing partner for Goldwing Capital. In 2012 he cofounded SafeImageMD, a medical image sharing tool for physicians and patients, which was sold to ZenVault Medical, according to Frank’s LinkedIn page.
Trusted Health is a San Francisco-based career service for nurses from nursing assistants to registered nurses without using recruitment companies. They can use it to compare their current salaries with compensation for similar roles around the country, according to the website. Matt Pierce, a cofounder and CEO, previously launched a career marketplace for tech jobs called Hired. Lennie Sliwinski, another Trusted Health cofounder, worked in marketing at Hired.
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