In the Pacific Northwest, “accelerator-slash-think tank” Cambia Grove is quickly expanding as the region’s go-to healthcare innovation hub. Fully funded by Cambia Health Solutions, the organization is functioning as a neutral party to bring startups and healthcare system incumbents together to identify innovation priorities. What else is happening in health tech in Seattle, especially with a few of those famous big consumer tech companies headquartered up there? Tune in to find out!
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
At HIMSS19, the year-old ‘Digital Health Collaborative’ announced its relaunch as ‘Together.Health.’ More than just a feel-good name, the new moniker is indicative of how the organization is literally trying to help the health innovation world ‘get its #%&! together.’
“We’re building a hub-and-spoke model,” says Stephen Konya of the US Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).
He and Nick Dougherty of MassChallenge Health Tech are founding co-chairs for Together.Health and the pair have managed to build a roster of more than 40 different partners – including almost every digital health accelerator and incubator in the country. Add into the mix some of the biggest health innovation investors in the biz, the usual healthcare incumbents, and a number of different government organizations and economic development groups with local, regional, and federal reach and one begins to clearly see how Together.Health is filling a void for ‘spokes’ that were definitely missing the connecting power of a ‘hub.’
But, what’s the real value of all this together-ness? According to Konya and Dougherty, faster uptake for innovation in healthcare.
For example, the organization’s first project is the development of a standard Business Associates Agreement (BAA) for startups and health systems to use to streamline the onerous paperwork process required before piloting or deploying new solutions. This is a process that currently takes 9-12 months and varies by health system. Together.Health thinks they can shorten that timeframe to 2-3 months just by getting the right people into the room and agreeing to keep 80% of the questions in the assessment in a standard format. The idea is meant to help prevent startups from ‘running out of runway’ (and their health system champions from simply ‘running away’ in frustration), while everyone waits for the necessary paperwork to make its way through Legal.
The pragmatism doesn’t stop there. Listen in to my interview with Stephen Konya to hear about the two other challenges Together.Health is taking on this year: putting together a common curriculum for health accelerator programs and mapping the US Health Innovation Ecosystem.
Want to get a jump on learning what’s happening in some of those health innovation pockets in the US? I had the opportunity to interview 10 ecosystem leaders at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS and the variety of conversations (and concerns) they share is pretty remarkable.
You can check out the whole Together.Health playlist here, or wait for a few of my favs (and their dishy gossip!) to make an appearance here on THCB over the next week.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
What’s happening in health tech in Detroit? Paul Riser from the Tech Town accelerator says med device innovation and digital health applications are the area’s ‘sweet spots’ thanks to the area’s talent pool of auto industry engineers and R&D experts. Another unique opportunity for healthcare innovation that capitalizes on the Motor City’s proximity to Ontario? Easy access to emerging cannabis & CBD startups taking advantage of Canada’s legalization laws. Listen in to find out more…
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
In the Pacific Northwest, “accelerator-slash-think tank” Cambia Grove is quickly expanding as the region’s go-to healthcare innovation hub. Fully funded by Cambia Health Solutions, the organization is functioning as a neutral party to bring startups and healthcare system incumbents together to identify innovation priorities. What else is happening in health tech in Seattle, especially with a few of those famous big consumer tech companies headquartered up there? Tune in to find out!
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
Does the ‘serendipitous collision’ really work when it comes to advancing innovation in healthcare? Mike Biselli, Founder & President of Catalyst Health-Tech Innovation in Denver, Colorado is betting on this ‘chance.’ An ‘industry integrator’ housed in a 180,000 square-foot facility, Catalyst HTI is bringing together healthcare startups, academics, associations, patients, and providers to eliminate the disconnect between the incumbent ‘healthcare establishment’ and the innovation community trying to work with it. With so many different ecosystem players living under one roof, what new trends and ideas are emerging? Mike tells us all.
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
Innovation in pediatric medicine requires a different approach than healthcare innovation aimed to help adults. Omkar Kulkarni, Chief Innovation Officer at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, explains some of the key differences healthcare innovators need to keep in mind when creating new health solutions for kids and their parents. A key area of focus for Children’s Hospital of LA? Understanding how to transcend the social determinants of health to help LA’s population of 2.5 million kids.
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
HIMSS plays an important role setting the agenda for innovation and health IT. So, what’s on the organization’s own innovation agenda this year? Leslie Evans, Director of the HIMSS Innovation Center, dishes about the health tech, health IT, and digital health trends that matter most to HIMSS and how the organization will be working with Together.Health and other partners to help speed up the way new technology is integrated into the health system.
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
Google’s Verily has a $1Billion dollar investment fund and a nearly limitless talent pool of data scientists and engineers at the ready. So, how are they planning to invest in a better future for health? Luba Greenwood, Strategic Business Development & Corporate Ventures for Verily explains how the tech giant is thinking about the big data opportunity in healthcare – and, more importantly, what they see as their role in helping scale it in unprecedented ways. Where should other health tech investors place their bets, then? Luba’s previous successes investing in digital health and health technology while at Roche give her a unique perspective on the ‘state-of-play’ in healthcare investment…but has the game changed now that she’s in another league at Verily? Listen in to find out!
Filmed at the Together.Health Spring Summit at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida, February 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt.
Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
