The eight early and growth-stage health IT companies selected for the New York Digital Health accelerator represent ways to improve communication among doctors and nurses, and harnessing data to reduce readmissions.
The program that has an initial $4.2 million investment, is the largest funded health IT accelerator in the country, according to a press statement.
It will also be the first to provide access to the state’s healthcare network, SHIN-NY, a healthcare information exchange “that embodies all of the federal and state policies for usage of patient data by the community,” New York eHealth Collaborative executive director David Whitlinger said in a statement.
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.
The services and tools from the accelerator companies will be used for the state’s Medicaid Redesign Team “Health Homes” initiative to make Medicaid patient treatment more coordinated and efficient.
The accelerator, formed by the NYeHealth Collaborative, and the Partnership for New York City Fund, is backed by investors that include Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, Janssen Healthcare Innovation, Milestone Venture Partners, New Leaf Ventures, Quaker Partners and Safeguard Scientifics, and the Partnership for New York City Fund.
In exchange for an investment of up to $300,000 in each of the companies selected for the nine-month program, the companies have agreed to open a New York office with the intention of creating 1,500 jobs over five years, according to a press statement.
The goals of the companies are to reduce the potential for medical errors and reduce unnecessary readmissions for which hospitals face costly Medicare reimbursement penalties that will increase each year, according to provisions set out in the Affordable Care Act.
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.
They include:
AdhereTx: Formed to help improve patient adherence, the company’s Web-based software offers team-based medication management for patients identified as presenting a high risk of unnecessary readmissions. Its software-as-a-service platform, KnowMyMeds, is designed to simplify data collection from the patient by allowing the practitioner to streamline capture of this fragmented information with a combination of tools and techniques, according to its website. It also sets out to reduce any medication conflicts from what patients may already be taking.
Aidin: Fresh from winning the DC to VC seed stage award at Health 2.0’s Fall conference last week, the company has a Web-based referral program for hospitals discharging patients for post-acute care. Its product is designed to help manage discharge planning coordination and billing with nursing agencies. It’s also a graduate of healthcare accelerator Blueprint Health’s inaugural class.
Avado: Its product is about improving communication between clinicians and patients with tools such as patient portal to transmit lab results and upcoming appointments. It claims to exceed Meaningful Use requirements for electronic medical records.
CipherHealth: The company sets out to help healthcare professionals improve patient engagement once the patient is discharged from the hospital.
Cureatr: It uses a lightweight messaging system that’s integrated with the healthcare provider’s directory, scheduling and pager systems to coordinate care between providers.
MedCPU: The Israeli company, with offices in California and New York, sets out to unify disparate sources of information such as physicians’ and nurses’ handwritten notes on a patient’s chart provided in an EMR. It analyzes this information in relation to a library of best practice content to activate clinical alerts and prompts. Its first application has been for obstetrics. Dr. Eyal Ephrat, the founder and CEO of the company, was one of a handful of Israeli health IT companies to exhibit in Philadelphia last year.
Remedy Systems: It offers a flexible care coordination platform that uses mobile devices to reduce healthcare costs, according to the announcement.
SpectraMD: The startup uses its FOCUS Actionable Analytics platform to share, mine and analyze clinical data using this to improve healthcare outcomes. It also aims to help providers obtain incentives for compliance with Meaningful Use, pay-for-performance programs and accountable care.
