Pilot Health Tech NYC, a program that matches up innovative healthcare startups with the healthcare community in New York City, has named 11 winners. They include variations of remote monitoring for seniors and diabetics to predictive analytics tools that can be used to assess medication adherence for developmentally disabled adults to figuring out who will be a blood donor.
The partnerships test prototypes of services or devices over a four- to nine-month time frame. The New York City Economic Development Corp. and Health 2.0 initiative provides $1 million in funding to early-stage companies in collaborations with New York City hospitals, physician clinics, pharmaceutical companies, nursing associations, large employers and retailers.
Here’s a summary of the winners and their pilot program collaborations.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Smartphone eye exam
Smart Vision Labs developed a smartphone attachment for vision tests in a nice piece of game-changing technology that could increase access to eye exams dramatically. Its Smart Aberrometer uses a phone’s flashlight and camera with an add-on microlens array to analyze refractive errors. A collaboration with SUNY College of Optometry will compare the results of its tests against standard tests that require the unwieldy machines eye doctors typically use. Led by Yaopeng Zhou and Marc Albanese, the company won first prize in the Verizon Powerful Answers Contest earlier this year.
Increasing blood donation with predictive analytics
Hindsait developed a messaging tool that’s designed to convert the people who say they will donate blood and don’t into reliable donors. The NY Blood Center will work Hindsait in a pilot project assessing its artificial intelligence and predictive analytics software to score prospective blood donors’ probability of donating. It will also apply its AI software in a communication platform to transmit reminders.
Using gaming to improve childhood asthma management
QoL Devices and the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore will pilot Alv.io, a mobile-connected respiratory training and monitoring device. It uses interactive, animated games to encourage children to learn how to manage asthma with the goal of reducing healthcare costs due to complications from the condition. The device will be piloted with 100 asthmatic children who seek treatment with Montefiore facilities in the Bronx.
Fixing the referral gap in cardiac care
Urgent Software will work with Mt. Sinai Health System’s Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) cardiologists and their out-of-network referring physicians. As part of Mt. Sinai’s community outreach to neighborhoods at high risk of cardiac disease, CVI physicians visit local physicians’ offices on a daily or weekly basis to provide cardiac consultations to patients. The goal of the pilot is to address the problem of patients not following up on referrals to cardiac specialists when insurance doesn’t cover a recommended procedure or specialist. The Urgent Consult platform is designed to help local physicians and administrative staff search for a nearby CVI physician who accepts the patient’s insurance. The pilot will test the platform’s ability to help primary care physicians link their patients to life-saving specialty care.
Personalizing diabetes treatment to reduce complications
Fit4D and Healthfirst, which provides free and low-cost health insurance, are partnering to keep diabetes sufferers in the Bronx healthy and out of the hospital. Fit4D’s certified diabetes educators will use powerful algorithms to match Healthfirst members with the best diabetes treatments for each individual. The goal of the project is to test whether Fit4D can keep these members from suffering complications that will drive up healthcare costs.
Eliminating language barrier between patients and nurses, physical therapists
Canopy Apps and Visiting Nurse Service of New York will take on the challenge of improving communication with non-English-speaking patients through the Canopy Medical Translator app. Nurses and physical therapists can use the app to access its library of pre-translated medical phrases in 15 languages to communicate with patients during home visits. The goal of the pilot is to measure patient and provider satisfaction with patient-provider communication, and determine whether it can improve workflow.
Remote monitoring for senior care patients
Nonnatech and senior care provider ElderServe will pilot Nonnatech’s smart sensor technologies to spot problems early to avoid hospitalization. It will measure seniors’ medication adherence and monitor activities such as eating, fluid intake, sleeping, toilet use, and socialization patterns. The idea is to help seniors stay in their own homes for as long as possible. It’s also intended to keep a constant watch without undermining their dignity and privacy.
Predictive analytics for medication adherence by developmentally disabled adults
Accountable Care Coalition of Greater New York will implement a medication adherence program powered by AllazoHealth’s predictive analytics tool. It reviews patients’ claims, demographic and intervention data to determine whether there needs to be an intervention and identify the most cost-effective method. The joint pilot will assess on ACCGNY’s 6,353 attributed beneficiaries, 63 percent of whom are intellectually or developmentally disabled. The pilot will evaluate the accuracy of the predictions, the impact of interventions and the savings associated with adherence.
Using messaging to identify patient needs from food to housing
Healthify’s platform uses text messaging to contact patients after screening them to assess their resource needs. Social issues like food insecurity, unsafe housing, domestic abuse and other issues undermine patient care. VillageCare’s Health Home case managers will use Healthify’s platform to connect patients with the services they need. The case managers will also use Healthify’s database to rate and review different community and government resources to do a better job of connecting patients with what they need.
Fall risk assessment tools
Tactonic Technologies is partnering with NYU Langone, Rusk Rehab Center to test whether its system of imaging sensors and powerful software can help doctors at the NYU Rusk Center for Rehabilitation measure whether a patient is ready to leave the hospital. Doctors check to see whether elderly patients can walk steadily before discharging them but often make a subjective judgment call that can lead to unnecessary slips and falls that bring the patient back to the emergency room. Tactonic will allow NYU doctors to make an objective measurement of patients’ gait.
Pet therapy
The GeriJoy Companion is a tablet-based pet avatar that provides the health benefits of pet therapy and talks with its owner about news, family photos and more, all the while reporting data to caregivers via web portal and phone. GeriJoy and Pace University will evaluate the efficacy of the companion to reduce hospital re-admissions and for the top three preventable re-admission risks for which hospitals are evaluated under the ACA: congestive heart failure, pneumonia, and acute myocardial infarction.
