A year ago this month,
opened its doors as Chicago’s first healthcare innovation incubator. The Merchandise Mart-based company has grown extensively in the healthcare tech space, with 117 member startups ranging from wearables and medical devices to pharmaceutical technology and advanced medical analytics. The incubator also hosts a number events every week.
To mark the occasion of MATTER’s one year anniversary, here are some updates about its member companies:
4D Healthware helps physicians care for chronically ill patients through drawing on the patient’s relevant medical history and real-time data from devices like wearables and wireless scales. The platform also lets patients monitor their progress.
“As Star Cunningham walked from the third floor to the sixth floor of a renowned medical building, critical medical information was left behind. Instead of travelling with her, the data stayed locked away on the third floor of a building, unwilling to share its secrets and insights to Star’s treating physician.... A few days later, Cunningham ended up back in the medical center.” [Read more here]
Companies have long been using sophisticated arrays of sensors to monitor the status and performance of components airplanes, cars and nuclear power plants. Based on the idea that the human body is a similarly complex piece of machinery, and drawing on the recent explosion in wearable sensor technology, PhysIQ gets to know individuals’ biometric signatures and alerts their caregivers about alarming changes. PhysIQ raised another $3.7M round a little over a week ago.
“‘Congestive heart failure patients, as they get toward the end of their disease, they go in and out of the hospital a lot, and they take a toll and cost a lot,’ said [founder and CEO Gary] Conkright. ‘If we can give doctors a heads-up we can maybe reduce costs and patient suffering.’” [Read more here]
Do you have a hard time navigating your health care plan — what’s covered, what isn’t, who’s in network and what your billing options are? Zest Health is working to clear up the confusion.
“Zest Health's ‘nurse concierge’ is a dedicated team of RN’s and customer support that's available to members 24/7. They know your plan and even many of your preferences so you're getting truly personal support when you reach out. Zest is eliminating the confusion and any unnecessary expenses like heading to the ER because you think it's your only option at off-times.” [Read more here]
Many student athletes’ careers are abruptly ended by injuries — in part because athletes complaining about chronic pain are faced with encouragement to “walk it off.” Founded by a former college athlete and professional wide receiver, Player’s Health allows coaches to track athlete injuries, sharing them with other coaches, parents and physicians.
“By early 2011, [founder Tyrre] Burks had ascended to the Canadian Football League, Canada’s equivalent of the NFL. The prestige, however, came at a price. The repetition and strain of constant training, practice, and play inflicted Burks with injuries… Burks intends to address the problem of machismo within sports culture. Athletes are often socially conditioned to treat serious injuries as nothing more than a mere inconvenience for the sake of appearing strong to their colleagues. If left to fester, Burks said, this mindset can have serious consequences, leaving a lot of athletes hurt simply because they feared the perception of weakness.” [Read more here]
Many hospital visits could be avoided if the patient had a simple way of consulting with their doctor from home. First Stop Health is providing patients with that option. The company recently raised $2.1 million on top of a $2.2 million round from 2014.
“So what sets this firm apart from other telehealth companies? For one, its high targets for employee participation rates — around 20 percent, which amount to significant healthcare cost savings for employers. [CEO Patrick] Spain said their user engagement strategy, while tailored to each employer, includes contacting participating employees eight times within the first eight weeks.” [Read more here]
In trauma surgery, adhering to best practices can be a question of life and death. VIZR Tech uses Google Glass to bring physicians and other medical personnel the right information at the right time.
“[The] gold standard for clearing a patient in the trauma bay … is to do the whole process in 20 minutes. [Co-founder Dr. Alex] Guerrero could meet that deadline about 30 to 40 percent of the time. Using VIZR, he’s getting close to 100 percent. ‘In trauma, for every three minutes you save, mortality goes down by one percent,’ said CEO Richard Buchler. ‘A 30 minute delay — which is very common in hospitals — can mean you’re 10 percent more likely to die.’” [Read more here]
Caremerge helps the families of senior care patients share information with care providers. The company raised $4 million at the beginning of last year on top of a $2.1 million round in 2013.
The U.S. health care sector has many inefficiencies, but when it comes to problems with simple solutions, the slow paper billing process is one of the lower hanging fruit. Chicago startup SwervePay lets patients pay bills via text message. [Read more here]
Images via Shutterstock and listed companies.
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