A health data informatics startup wants to make provider performance more transparent by using criteria like price and quality of outcomes to give payers a better way to evaluate them. It has received seed funding from Ben Franklin Technology PArtners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, a division of the state’s economic development agency. A mobile cardiac biomarker that can help detect heart attacks faster also got follow-on investment, according to a statement from the group.
Wayne, Pennsylvania-based HealthQx got $150,000. It was founded last year by chief operating officer Bill Conlan and is led by CEO Mark McAdoo — both are serial entrepreneurs. Its decision support tool, called CareQx, mines data collected from more than 120 million patients across the country. It provides cost and quality benchmarks among providers, identifies procedure volume per provider, referral relationships among other things and much more. It is designed to help payers establish guidelines for building or rebuilding provider networks, according to information from its website.
Payers want to knock down data silos to get greater transparency for price and performance from providers, so the demand for health informatics tools that can help them achieve this is on the rise. Although HealthQx sees itself competing with healthcare transparency companies Castlight Health and Change Healthcare, it sees its own system as more sophisticated than these potential rivals.
QLIDA Diagnostics, led by Michael Boyce-Jacino, received $250,000 in a follow-on investment. The Coulter Foundation, a group that funds university research, and UK-based venture firm Net Scientific have also invested in the company.
The company has developed a test for cardiovascular disease that can determine if they are having a heart attack or are likely to anytime soon. The device takes a small blood sample and evaluates the level of the protein troponin. Under stress, the protein is released into the bloodstream — the higher the stress level, the higher the level of troponin. The diagnostic could be used to more accurately triage patients and cut down on emergency room wait times. The cardiovascular diagnostics market is valued at $1 billion.
The company is a spinout from Drexel University. The technology is also being developed for diagnostic tests for other diseases.
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