Fourteen New Pilot Programs Anticipated to Result from Program — Current Class Has Raised $3M Since Program Launch in September 2015.
New York, NY – Today, the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA) – an intense five month program run by the Partnership Fund for New York City (Partnership Fund) and the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) to foster New York’s growing health tech sector – featured six leading early- and growth-stage health tech companies that are developing cutting-edge technology products for healthcare providers and patients in the areas of care coordination, patient engagement, and workflow improvement.
Since entering the program, the six participating companies were able to secure over $3 million of new funding and are currently finalizing or negotiating 14 pilot agreements. Several of these pilot agreements were announced today to an audience of potential investors and senior executives from the healthcare industry. The pilot agreements include one between Mount Sinai Health System and OffTheScale, a 12-month, app-driven disease intervention program backed by Jay Cardiello, a partner in OffTheScale who showcases the company’s approach in the new ABC primetime reality show “My Diet is Better than Yours.” As part of this pilot agreement, Mount Sinai will offer OffTheScale to Mount Sinai employees. Additionally, another pilot agreement announced today calls for iVediX to develop a data visualization tool that will help clients of Onondaga Case Management’s health home program to participate fully in the creation of care plans by having access to data on their own outcomes across important domains of functioning.
“The Accelerator continues to be an important stepping-stone for the best and brightest Health IT entrepreneurs. Year after year, the program helps health tech companies take their ideas to the next level, and this year’s class is no different,” said Maria Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership Fund. “We are pleased to work with the New York eHealth Collaborative to provide entrepreneurs with the high-level relationships they need to help grow their business.”
“We are providing Health IT companies what they need, but cannot get anywhere else: access to major customers and product feedback from senior-level executives at New York’s top healthcare institutions” said David Whitlinger, Executive Director of the New York eHealth Collaborative. “By providing these companies with direct mentorship to improve their technologies and business strategies, the Accelerator is quickly expanding New York’s Health IT landscape. We look forward to seeing what these companies accomplish after having completed our program.”
Now in its third year, the accelerator has proven it is unlike any other program in that participants are given the unique opportunity to obtain direct access to major enterprise customers including large hospital systems and insurance companies, and receive direct feedback from senior-level executives representing leading healthcare providers in New York State. The program provides $100,000 in up-front funding per company from a syndicate of leading venture capital and strategic investors.
The NYDHA has already shown strong success. The 15 graduate companies have raised over $65 million in additional capital and have created more than 150 new jobs in New York City. Two of the graduate companies were acquired within six months of finishing the program.
The six companies participating in this year’s Accelerator are:
Dorsata provides clinicians with the tools to build and share defined workflows – called care pathways – to improve decision-making, documentation, and order entry. Leveraging clinician-developed care pathways, Dorsata will transform healthcare, reducing costs and improving quality.
iVEDiX is an innovative leader in mobile analytics and workflow solutions focused on creating an extraordinary clinician and patient experience interacting with data. Its miVEDiX product is a highly configurable, intuitive and interactive platform providing unified & easy health information access, workflow optimization and clinical decision support. The result: time savings, increased revenue potential and improved patient experience/quality of care.
OffTheScale (OTS) is a chronic disease, affordable health management platform which has shown to slow, stop and reverse the progression of chronic diseases. OTS starts with a 12 week group intervention program called OTS-4-U that consists of a customized experience, delivered to the group but targeted to the individual. OTS achieves lifestyle change through its OTS-4-U intervention, and then continues life-long maintenance and sustainability with its’ OTS-4-LIFE program.
Parable provides tele-monitoring and analytics for wound care. Current processes in wound care, characterized by inconsistent assessments, a lack of standards, limited expertise, and poor care transitions lead to wasted resources and poor outcomes. Parable Health helps provide more effective measuring, monitoring, and managing of wound patients to improve outcomes and reduce cost.
TelaDietitian is the premier telehealth solution for nutrition counseling. Leveraging the nutrition care manuals of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the company makes medical nutrition therapy easy to deliver. It offers convenient, cost effective and high quality medical nutrition therapy consultations via a HIPAA compliant video, chat and phone portal. Through a simple sign up, a patient sees an expert Registered Dietitian and also receives a personalized nutrition guide with a custom meal plan, recipes, relevant nutrition information, shopping guide and information on food/drug interactions.
Wellth allows payers and ACOs to maximize the value of every dollar spent on the care of high cost chronic disease patients. By nudging patients towards evidence based care options and by motivating and tracking healthy habits, they can measurably improve population quality metrics like HbA1c in diabetics. They apply the principles of Value Based Insurance Design, which have been developed by Dr. Mark Fendrick of the University of Michigan, and are now being incorporated into numerous health plans and policies nationwide.
About the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA): The New York Digital Health Accelerator is a program run by the Partnership Fund for New York City and the New York eHealth Collaborative for early and growth-stage digital health companies that are developing cutting-edge technology products for healthcare providers and patients in the areas of care coordination, patient engagement, and workflow improvement. More information can be found at www.digitalhealthaccelerator.com and @NYDigitalHealth.
The program’s sponsors are: Accenture, Genentech, Infor, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Pfizer. Additional sponsors include Troutman Sanders, Medidata Solutions and the Alexandria Center for Life Science. NYDHA mentors include: Aetna, Allied Physicians Group, Central NY Health Home Network, Community Healthcare Network, Greater Buffalo United Accountable Healthcare Network, MediSys Health Network, Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Health System, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Northwell Health, NYU Langone Medical Center, Onondaga Case Management Services, Rochester Regional Health System, SBH Health System, Stony Brook Medicine and Visiting Nurse Service of New York. Program investors include: Baxalta Ventures, Baxter Ventures, Deerfield, Milestone Venture Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Partnership Fund for New York City and Safeguard Scientifics.
About the Partnership Fund for New York City (Partnership Fund):
The Partnership Fund for New York City is the $135 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, New York’s leading business organization. The Fund’s mission is to engage the City’s business leaders to identify and support promising NYC-based entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers to participate in the City’s economy. The Fund is governed by a Board of Directors co-chaired by Charles “Chip” Kaye, co-chief executive officer of Warburg Pincus, and Tarek Sherif, Chairman and CEO of Medidata. Maria Gotsch serves as President and CEO of the Fund. More information about the Fund can be found at www.pfnyc.org.
About The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC): NYeC is a not-for-profit organization, working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare for all New Yorkers through health information technology (health IT). Founded in 2006 by healthcare leaders, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the State of New York.
NYeC works to develop policies and standards, to assist healthcare providers in making the shift to electronic health records, and to coordinate the creation of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), a network to connect healthcare providers statewide. @NYeHealth