Dinesh Seemakurty was an undergraduate student the University of Southern California when his grandfather in India fell ill and was taken to the hospital. The nurses were only checking in on him every four to six hours, and his blood oxygen levels dropped. The staff was unable to stabilize him, and he passed away.
Seemakurty and Michael Maylahn, his friend and fellow USC engineering student, believed technology could have played a key role in saving Seemakurty’s grandfather. If the clinicians had received more patient information sooner, they may have been able to stabilize him.
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Thus, the engineers built Stasis Labs, a healthcare startup that provides a cloud-connected vitals monitoring platform. The company, which was part of the first Cedars-Sinai accelerator class in 2016, has a solution that measures six vital signs and gives doctors actionable insights about patients.
In a phone interview, Maylahn explained how the technology works.
From the patient perspective, Stasis’ solution is a bedside monitor that displays the individual’s vitals. When it lights up green, everything is in order. When it displays a yellow light, an alert is sent to the clinical staff.
“Our goal for the patients and families is to design something they understood,” Maylahn said. Having an intuitive display can potentially help decrease the stress and anxiety that typically accompany a hospital stay.
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Clinicians can use a tablet to remotely monitor the patient. Through the Stasis platform, they can see trends, manage alarms and receive notifications. The startup also has an app so doctors and nurses can receive information on a smartphone.
The company initially entered the market in India. “A lot of our focus in India has been on continuing to grow,” Maylahn said.
In the United States, Stasis has submitted its 510(k) and is awaiting FDA clearance. Maylahn declined to talk about any of the startup’s relationships with U.S.-based hospitals.
As for generating revenue, Stasis charges organizations a yearly service fee for its platform.
Ultimately, the company wants to use its approach to help the industry move from a reactive care model to a proactive one. “We need to make healthcare work and make it more efficient,” Maylahn said.
Photo: chombosan, Getty Images
