Siemens, CVS, Athenahealth back new Pa.-based medtech accelerator

Siemens (NYSE:SI), CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) and Athenahealth (NYSE:ATHN) have joined on as backers of Smart Health Innovation Lab, a new Lancaster, Penn.-based medtech accelerator that opened this week.

The accelerator was developed collaboratively by Aspire Ventures, Capital BlueCross, Clio Health and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, according to a press release. The incubator lab will provide a 12-week certification process to support innovative healthcare technologies.

“We share a common vision with the Smart Health Innovation Lab to enhance collaboration and innovation across the healthcare ecosystem. As the most connected network in the industry, we are constantly supporting healthcare innovators across the country to improve provider and patient experiences across the care continuum. Our strategic relationship with the Smart Health Innovation Lab will further establish a path for innovators to seamlessly accelerate their products, and we look forward to seeing its first class in action,” Athenahealth strategy & operations platform director Michael Palantoni said in a press release.

Users of the incubator will be provided with access to foundational technologies and services from companies including Athenahealth and Siemens, and will collaborate with clinical and technology experts, payors and other specialists as they develop their products for the commercial market.

Smart Health Innovation Lab touted that its facilities have been outfitted by “high-profile companies and top-tier vendors.” These include cloud-based EHR and population health services from Athenahealth, which will serve as the primary clinical platform in the lab, retail pharmacy experience services from CVS health and smart room technology from Siemens.

Facilities also include simulated care environments including a pharmacy, hospital room, physical therapy gym, clinician’s office and home environments for demonstrating technologies in multiple settings.

“Smart Health Innovation Lab was founded on a spirit of collaboration, and we’ve partnered with the best-of-breed in the industry to help transform healthcare. Our approach to fast-tracking healthcare technologies to market is an ambitious project that required a collective effort from all of our partners and sponsors. Through their contributions and support, our resident startups will have access to a wide range of solutions, services, and a network to streamline the development of their own innovations – so they can contribute to the larger goals of lowering costs, enhancing the patient and provider experience, and improving health outcomes,” Smart Health Innovation Lab CEO Kim Ireland said in a prepared statement.

The lab considered 30 finalists for its inaugural class, and selected two companies, knee care device developer Emovi and mental health tech developer NeuroFlow.

Montreal, Quebec-based Emovi is developing the KneeKG knee assessment system, which analyzes a patient’s knee in 3D while the patient is moving and weight-bearing to identify functional causes linked to knee pain for improved treatments.

Philadelphia-based NeuroFlow is developing a HIPAA-compliant mental wellness platform designed to allow providers the ability to assign mental health exercises to patients and encourage them to complete them with automated reminders and rewards. The system also uses real-time data from wireless EEG and HRV sensors to analyze relaxation and stress levels during exercises.

“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. 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,” Ireland said in prepared remarks.

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