NYCEDC Announces 10 Winners of PILOT Health Tech NYC, a Competition to Pilot New Technologies in the City's Health Tech Sector
Winning Companies Receive a Total of $1 Million to Address Defined Healthcare Needs
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced the winners of PILOT Health Tech NYC, a competition designed to dramatically increase innovation and collaboration within New York City's health technology sector. PILOT Health Tech NYC partners early-stage health technology companies with key New York City healthcare service organizations - including hospitals, physician clinics, pharmaceutical companies, and nursing associations - in order to pilot and advance new technologies. Over 40 innovator and host organization teams submitted joint proposals for innovative pilot projects. Each of the 10 winning pilot projects is focused on addressing defined needs of the healthcare industry and testing a technology prototype in a healthcare setting for a period of approximately 3-6 months. The 10 winners will each receive a portion of the $1 million funding to pilot their programs in partnership with these established institutions, with the goal of encouraging the development and scaling of new technologies to improve clinical care while reducing costs, assisting early-stage companies in building long-lasting relationships with existing New York City healthcare stakeholders, and laying the groundwork for the creation of new businesses in New York City. The winners will be officially announced at PILOT Day, which is being held at Blueprint Health, 56 Mercer St., this afternoon, where they will present their pilots to the New York City health tech community. PILOT Health Tech NYC is an initiative of NYCEDC, in partnership with Health 2.0, Blueprint Health and Startup Health.
"The healthcare technology sector in New York City is already booming, but it is important to continue to innovate in order to further position ourselves as a hub for transformational projects," said NYCEDC Executive Director Kyle Kimball. "PILOT Health Tech NYC provides early-stage companies with the opportunity to make major breakthroughs in the life sciences and healthcare technology sectors, helping to fight diseases while also creating a stronger business economy."
The 10 winners are:
- AdhereTech | Weill Cornell Medical Center: AdhereTech has created wireless smart pill bottles that improve medication adherence. Dr. Roy Gulick is a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell and the Principal Investigator of the Cornell HIV Clinical Trials Unit. AdhereTech will be working with Dr. Gulick and his team to assess patient adherence to an HIV drug regimen over 12 weeks using AdhereTech bottles with reminders and feedback, compared to the usual standard of care.
- BioDigital | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center: BioDigital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering are addressing deficiencies in patient-doctor communication through the use of new visualization technology. BioDigital's Human Platform, an interactive 3D virtual body that is already widely used in academia, will be introduced into the Memorial Sloan-Kettering clinical workflow as a tool to more effectively communicate complex health topics. The expected results include increased patient engagement, understanding and satisfaction - all while saving doctors time.
- Bio-Signal Group | New York Methodist Hospital: Each year, in the USA alone, over 12M patients present to emergency departments in an altered mental state, in need of an electroencephalogram, but cannot get one. The Bio-Signal Group's microEEG addresses this problem with an FDA approved, miniature, wireless system that utilizes a rapid-to-apply disposable electrodes and a network of teleneurologists to provide a remote, rapid interpretation to an ED physician. New York Methodist Hospital will pilot the microEEG in a healthcare setting.
- eCaring | Pace University: This pilot will test the outcomes of the eCaring web-based care management & monitoring system with a high need population of chronically ill, multicultural older adults in Henry Street Settlement's Vladeck Cares Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC). Pace RN's will track data and assess the effect on use of healthcare resources, disease management, preventable events, and costs.
- Flatiron Health | Continuum Health Partners: Flatiron Health is building a "big data" software platform that aggregates, cleans and structures clinical oncology data in order to provide applications to care providers. This pilot will enable Continuum Health Partners to measure and improve a wide range of metrics relating to cancer care at their centers. These include comprehensive quality, operational, clinical and financial performance data.
- Opticology | New York Eye & Ear Infirmary: Diabetics must measure their blood glucose despite being painful and inconvenient. Opticology has developed a better way to measure blood glucose in the 17 million Type II diabetics: through ocular tears. The technology consists of a pen shaped device with glucose sensing chemistry at the tip that gently touches the tears just above the lower eyelid. New York Eye & Ear will help measure the correlation between tear and blood glucose in diabetic patients.
- Rip Road | VNSNY Choice SelectHealth: SelectHealth and Rip Road are partnering to develop a new member engagement model for Medicaid members. Rip Road's text messaging engagement platform will be used for member communications and patient data analysis. The pilot will focus on member adherence to appointments and medication refills. By providing this new engagement channel, the pilot seeks to improve health outcomes, increase member retention and satisfaction with SelectHealth, and reduce hospitalizations and long-term care costs.
- StarlingHealth | VillageCare: StarlingHealth and VillageCare are partnering to pilot the use of a nurse call and bedside communication system to improve patient care and satisfaction while reducing cost of care delivery at VillageCare Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a 105-bed sub-acute facility. Residents will use multi-lingual touchscreen tablets to make specific requests. Automatic request delegation, routing and escalation will help staff resolve needs, and management will have real-time visibility into all activities.
- Sense Health | University Behavioral Associates: Sense Health is working with University Behavioral Associates (affiliated with Montefiore) to pilot their mobile patient support technology with case managers and patients in the Managed Addiction Treatment Services Program. If successful, this pilot will validate a technology that efficiently helps case managers deliver high intensity support to growing patient case loads.
- Vital Care Services | Pace University: Vital Care Services and Pace University will pilot the effectiveness of TeleHealth solutions to meet current and projected needs of diverse socio-economic communities in New York City. Pace student technicians will assist patients in taking their vitals, which are monitored remotely by a Pace RN. Key objectives of the pilot are to reduce healthcare cost, increase access and quality of care, and train future working professionals at the University level.
PILOT Health Tech NYC is a result of Eds & Meds NYC 2020, a strategic review of the life sciences and healthcare sectors in New York City. NYCEDC held extensive conversations with senior academic stakeholders, investors and entrepreneurs in New York City and beyond. According to stakeholders, there was consensus that the City can play a more active role in bringing providers and entrepreneurs together to reduce costs and improve patient care throughout New York City.
"Health 2.0 is thrilled that this program has been able to attract support and interest from over 25 large NYC provider organizations that are focused on working with health tech innovators," said Health 2.0 Senior Vice President Jean-Luc Neptune. "This level of collaboration is unprecedented and shows the high level of commitment by NYC health care stakeholders to using technology to reduce costs and improve health care quality."
"The NYC Pilot Health Tech Program truly shows why New York has become the center of healthcare innovation in the world," said Brad Weinberg, Partner at Blueprint Health. "These 10 companies will create hundreds of jobs in the coming years and develop technologies that dramatically change how care is delivered. Blueprint Health is proud to be based in New York and help with this great program."
"Pilot Health Tech NYC is an extraordinary program that is making a significant impact on the innovation ecosystem in NYC by delivering practical opportunities to help startups grow," said Unity Stoakes, President of StartUp Health. "In addition to helping 10 exceptional companies bring new health solutions to market, this program serves as a model for how collaboration between government, entrepreneurs and large organizations can speed up the cycles of innovation. StartUp Health is proud to be headquartered in New York City and partner on this important program for startups."
New York City is home to an increasingly robust healthcare sector, which includes world-class academic medical centers, top pharmaceutical companies, as well as numerous physician practices, nursing associations and clinics. Most recently, NYCEDC announced a partnership that will lead to the creation of Harlem Biospace, a life sciences incubator that will provide affordable wet-lab and microbench facilities, specialized laboratory equipment, mentorship and business support to early-stage life sciences companies. Harlem Biospace is designed to help create a thriving biotech community for turning revolutionary ideas into products that will solve important health problems.
About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is the City's primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each of the five boroughs. NYCEDC's mission is to stimulate growth through expansion and redevelopment programs that encourage investment, generate prosperity and strengthen the City's competitive position. NYCEDC serves as an advocate to the business community by building relationships with companies that allow them to take advantage of New York City's many opportunities. Find us on
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