- Smart Health Innovation Lab opened its state-of-the-art facility today, showcasing cutting-edge technologies the lab plans to accelerate to market with a 12-week certification program
- Smart Health Certification Program to play a unique role in helping market-ready technologies expedite their path to health system adoption and insurer reimbursement
- Inaugural Class of 2018 includes companies from Philadelphia and Montreal with innovative technologies in pain management and mental health.
LANCASTER, Pa., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smart Health Innovation Lab , a market adoption accelerator for healthcare technologies, officially opened its state-of-the-art facility today, showcasing the innovative technologies the lab plans to accelerate to market with a 12-week certification program.
Developed collaboratively by Aspire Ventures , Capital BlueCross , Clio Health , and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health , the goal of the lab is to advance cutting-edge technology aimed at improving health outcomes, lowering costs, and enhancing both the patient and provider experience. The lab's inaugural class features companies focusing on pain management and mental health.
The Smart Health Certification Program plays a unique role in the innovation process by helping market-ready technologies overcome the challenges associated with market adoption and insurer reimbursement. Technology, payor, and clinical experts work closely with resident startups to help them validate their products, integrate their technologies into clinical workflows, and gain adoption from providers and insurers.
“Technology startups often have difficulty getting their products integrated into clinical workflows,” said Michael Ripchinski, MD, Physician Executive for Quality at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health. “Our certification process will ensure that these innovations work well for the healthcare team and drive exceptional value and quality outcomes for the patient.”
The lab has attracted interest from top-tier healthcare technology startups from across the United States and abroad. After evaluating more than 30 finalists, two companies were chosen for the inaugural class of 2018: Emovi and Neuroflow . Each focuses on a different specialty, and has a unique technological innovation to improve cost, experience, and outcomes.
- Emovi , Montreal, Quebec - An early-stage medical device company, Emovi has developed a breakthrough knee care system, KneeKG. The KneeKG device revolutionizes knee assessment by enabling doctors for the first time to accurately assess patients’ knees in 3-D while the patient is moving and weight-bearing. In contrast to static information from x-ray and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), KneeKG quickly identifies the functional causes linked to knee pain, allowing doctors to better target treatments instead of using the process of elimination. KneeKG can pinpoint functional deficits linked to knee osteoarthritis, ligament injuries, instabilities and anterior knee pain. By providing functional information to doctors with a higher correlation to symptoms and at a fraction of the cost of high-tech scans such as MRIs, the KneeKG allows doctors to significantly improve patients’ quality of life, pain, and functional limitations.
- NeuroFlow , Philadelphia, Pa. - A mental health technology company co-founded by a U.S. military veteran, NeuroFlow’s HIPAA-compliant platform is used to optimize mental wellness and enhance patient engagement between clinical sessions with a data-driven approach to brain health. NeuroFlow boosts engagement by letting providers assign mental health exercises while encouraging patients to complete exercises with automated reminders and rewards for adherence. NeuroFlow also leverages real-time physiological data from wireless EEG and HRV sensors to measure relaxation and stress levels during specific exercises. Neuroflow’s unique solution for improving mental health patient engagement was recently voted the most innovative mental health technology by providers and healthcare experts at a Psych Congress pitch competition during the 2018 Elevate conference in Austin, Texas.
“We are thrilled to have such high-caliber companies participate in our inaugural class of 2018. We chose companies we believe will deliver the maximum benefit to population health, and we’re confident their technologies will deliver,” said Kim Ireland, CEO, Smart Health Innovation Lab. “With musculoskeletal conditions accounting for more than $300 billion in healthcare costs and a rapidly growing need for mental and behavioral health services, we believe our first class of resident companies will positively impact the quadruple aim of healthcare - improving cost, outcomes, and both the patient and provider experience.”
Resident companies will work onsite at the Smart Health Innovation Lab in a variety of simulated care environments—including a hospital room, physical therapy gym, clinician’s office, self-service kiosk, and home setting—to demonstrate the efficacy of their technologies. Upon successful completion of the 12-week program, technologies will receive Smart Health Certification, entry into partnering health systems, and a path to payor reimbursement.
“The future of healthcare is being imagined and developed today,” said Dr. Jennifer Chambers, Chief Medical Officer, Capital BlueCross. “The Smart Health Innovation Lab will help launch new and imaginative technologies that will redefine the healthcare experience and improve the health status of patients around the world. We are proud to be a founder of an entity that is forward-thinking and focused on bringing game-changing ideas to the healthcare market – locally, nationally, and globally.”
About Smart Health Innovation Lab Smart Health Innovation Lab, located in Lancaster, Pa., is a market adoption accelerator built for testing, certifying, and advancing new healthcare technologies. At the lab, payors, providers, and technology companies work together in a unique collaboration to validate and integrate healthcare innovations into the healthcare marketplace. Founded by Aspire Ventures, Capital BlueCross, Clio Health, and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, the Smart Health Innovation Lab brings together different healthcare stakeholders to achieve a common goal: improving the health of our communities through new technologies that improve the patient and provider experience, lower cost of care, and improve health outcomes. For more information, visit www.smarthealthinnovationlab.com .
About Aspire Ventures Aspire Ventures, an Aspire Universal Company, is a venture capital firm focused on transforming industries and impact investment with breakthrough technologies. Aspire Ventures leverages its capital, intellectual property and domain expertise to help bring innovations to market faster and more cost effectively for the benefit of people worldwide.
Aspire Ventures has developed A 2 I, an adaptive artificial intelligence platform, to help its portfolio companies offer innovative mobile, cloud, and machine learning solutions for a variety of industry sectors, most notably healthcare. Aspire Ventures is leading several initiatives to create a patient-centered model in healthcare powered by precision medicine technologies. For more information, visit www.aspirevc.com .
About Capital BlueCross Capital BlueCross, headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., is the leading health solutions and insurance company in Central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley. A partner in the community’s health for 80 years, Capital BlueCross offers health insurance products, services and technology solutions that provide peace of mind to consumers and promote health and wellness for our customers.
More than a health insurer, the company delivers innovative solutions through a family of diversified businesses that is creating a healthier future and lowering health care costs. Among these solutions are patient-focused care models, leading-edge data analytics, and digital health technologies. Additionally, Capital BlueCross is growing a network of Capital Blue stores that provide in-person service and inspiration to help people reach their health goals. Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association. For more information, visit capbluecross.com .
About Clio Health Clio Health, an Aspire Ventures affiliate, is a smart healthcare facility focused on transforming the patient experience and improving health outcomes at lower cost through innovative processes, a cutting-edge technology ecosystem, and strategic collaborations. The campus, due to open fall 2019, will use a transformative digital integration platform to provide best-in-class healthcare services and an “all in one” user experience. The Lancaster campus is the first phase of a broader initiative by Clio Health to impact healthcare with innovative facilities across the U.S. For more information, visit www.clio.health . About Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health (LG Health) is a 663-licensed bed not-for-profit health system with a comprehensive network of care encompassing Lancaster General Hospital (LGH), Women & Babies Hospital and the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital (in partnership with Kindred Healthcare). LG Health’s membership in Penn Medicine joins the strengths of a world-renowned, not-for-profit academic medical center and a nationally recognized, not-for-profit community health-care system. Outpatient services are provided at more than 30 centers and express and urgent-care locations; more than 400 primary and specialty providers participate in their employed-physician network. For more information, visit www.lancastergeneralhealth.org .
Media Contact Drew Smith 10Fold for Smart Health Innovation Lab dsmith@10fold.com (415) 800-5374
