NY Digital Health Accelerator inaugural class named

Eight startups have been selected from 250 applicants for the inaugural class of the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA) according to an announcement  yesterday (October 15). NYDHA describes itself as the largest funded health IT accelerator program in the US. It's a high-dollar program --each chosen company gets up to $300,000 plus other services and mentoring. In addition, companies have direct access to the technology platform that is connecting electronic health records across New York State, the Statewide Health Information Network of New York. The winners had to commit to have an office in New York state.

"The Accelerator provides much-needed, valuable tools for providers in support of New York State's Medicaid Redesign initiative," New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav R. Shah said.  "The initiative, which promotes a shift from the costly fee-for-service model to a more effective and efficient managed care approach, is resulting in better care - at lower cost - for patients across the continuum of care.  The Accelerator is an essential first step to stimulate the market and nurture innovation within the entrepreneurial community."

NYHDA is a partnership of the New York Health Collaborative (NYeC) and the Partnership for New York City Fund (Partnership Fund). The investment capital for the accelerator was provided by a syndicate of investors, including Aetna, Janssen Healthcare Innovation, Milestone Venture Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Partnership for New York City Fund, Quaker Partners, Safeguard Scientifics, and UnitedHealth Group. The Empire State Development Corporation, Health Research Inc., and NYeC have provided additional funds to operate the NYDHA.

The 8 selected companies include:

• AdhereTx: KnowMyMeds web-based, interoperable software supports team-based medication management and reconciliation for high-risk patients at the point of care. KnowMyMeds enables healthcare practitioners to perform clinically validated, cost-effective medication review for high-risk patients, including "dual eligibles" and the chronically ill, to reduce their drug-related hospitalizations and readmissions. (www.adheretx.com)

• Aidin: Aidin is a web-based referral platform for hospitals discharging patients to post-acute care.  Aidin collects hard data about how well post-acute providers perform and makes it easy for hospital staff to present that information to patients when they are choosing their post-acute provider - helping patients choose better providers for better outcomes. (www.myaidin.com)

• Avado: Avado allows clinicians and patients to securely communicate, track, and manage health information. They centralize data from many EHR's and make it usable for all stakeholders.  Providers can take comfort knowing that Avado exceeds Meaningful Use requirements for patient engagement while also addressing requirements for medical homes and accountable models. (www.avado.com)

• CipherHealth: CipherHealth helps hospitals avoid government penalties by reducing preventable readmissions, improving outcomes, better coordinating care, and creating a positive patient experience.  CipherHealth reaches out over the phone, through tablets, via email, text, or the web, better engaging patients in their care and building stronger relationships between patients and providers. (www.cipherhealth.com)

• Cureatr: Cureatr will improve how healthcare providers communicate and coordinate patient care. Their lightweight, user-friendly HIPAA-secure group messaging system integrates with existing directory, scheduling and paging systems, making it easy to use while coordinating care within or between organizations. (www.cureatr.com)

• MedCPU: MedCPU delivers accurate real-time clinical care advice through its revolutionary Advisor Button technology. It uniquely captures the complete clinical picture from clinicians' free-text notes, dictations and structured documentation entered into any EMR, and analyzes it against a growing library of best-practice content, generating real-time precise prompts for best care consideration. (www.medcpu.com)

• Remedy Systems: Remedy Systems leverages the power of mobile to lower the cost and improve the quality of healthcare via its flexible care coordination platform that enables physicians and nurses to concentrate on delivering the highest quality of care possible while fostering engagement from patients and family/friends. (www.remedysystems.com)  

• SpectraMD: SpectraMD maximizes the value of data across the continuum of care with business intelligence solutions. Their FOCUS™ Actionable Analytics platform enables stakeholders in hospitals and ambulatory care settings to improve outcomes, increase revenues, succeed in quality-based initiatives including Reducing Preventable Readmissions and leverage analytics for the Health Home initiative. (www.spectramd.com)

source: PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1q5Rf)