A select group of six innovative healthcare startups were chosen to participate in the third annual New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA), a four-month program run by the Partnership Fund for New York City (Partnership Fund) and the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC). The program supports growth-stage digital health companies that are developing cutting-edge technology products for healthcare providers and patients in the areas of care coordination, patient engagement, and workflow improvement. The tech companies will have the unique opportunity to obtain direct access to major customers, such as healthcare organizations and insurance companies, and receive product feedback from senior-level executives representing seventeen leading healthcare providers in New York State.

“New York is the place for technology entrepreneurs to cultivate and grow their ideas,” said Maria Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. “This year’s NYDHA class is at the vanguard of bringing game-changing solutions to the health IT industry. By providing them with unmatched financial and professional support, this Accelerator will continue to produce results while growing our state’s economy and creating jobs in our communities.”

During the program, participating start-ups will work closely with senior-level executives to fine-tune and develop their technologies and business strategies through direct mentorship as well as a series of workshops, panel discussions, user-group sessions, networking opportunities, one-on-one meetings, and presentations. In addition, the companies will have access to a leadership program with participation by a network of successful entrepreneurs. The program provides $100,000 in up-front funding per company from a syndicate of leading venture capital and strategic investors.

“With New York State’s implementation of new payment models and care delivery mechanisms such as DSRIP, the NYDHA serves as an engine of innovation helping to provide the new tools and solutions healthcare professionals need to deliver better patient outcomes, reduce costs, and thrive in this new era of healthcare,” said New York eHealth Collaborative Executive Director, David Whitlinger. “In addition to providing our class of companies invaluable mentorship and end user product feedback, the program offers the entrepreneurs access to potential customers and the opportunity to pilot their innovations at New York State’s leading health systems.”

The program has shown strong success. The 15 graduate companies have raised $65 million in additional capital and created 120 new jobs in New York City. Two of these startups, Avado and Remedy Systems, were acquired within 6 months of graduating.

The 2015 Class

Dorsata is a platform for the creation, distribution, and implementation of clinical carepaths. Through a web-based platform, teams of clinicians and nurses can rapidly create, build consensus, and disseminate care pathways.

Healogram helps providers remotely monitor post-surgical and wound care through tele-monitoring and analytics in order to provide more effective measuring and managing of wound patients to improve outcomes and reduce cost.

iVEDiX provides solutions for healthcare and other verticals, differentiated by its highly configurable visual analytics platform called miVEDiX giving users the ability to interact with their data in a variety of ways through their big data & analytics competencies.

Nutrify allows clinicians the opportunity to provide tailored recipes based on unique nutritional needs, clinical data, medications, and health conditions. The diet planning tool is accessible to the patient anytime, and has a tracking capability on the back end to assist the clinician in knowing if the patient is in fact eating healthier.

OffTheScale is an affordable healthcare platform which has been shown to slow, stop, and reverse the progression of chronic diseases through a 12-week customized group intervention program called OTS-4-U, and then continues life-long maintenance and sustainability with its OTS-4-LIFE program.

Wellth works with healthcare payors to produce cost-saving behavior changes in their members through science-based incentive plans. By nudging patients towards evidence-based care options and by motivating and tracking healthy habits, they can measurably improve population quality metrics.

NYeC and the Partnership Fund designed the unique program to cultivate development of health information technology in New York, leveraging both the burgeoning New York City tech sector and the extensive concentration of financial and healthcare organizations there. The Partnership Fund has historically been a strong supporter of entrepreneurial businesses that promote economic development in New York. At the same time, NYeC has built relationships with a broad cross-section of healthcare organizations by coordinating the development of New York State’s health information exchange, the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY) and by helping healthcare providers embrace and implement new technologies. By partnering, NYeC and the Partnership Fund for New York City are fostering high-potential start-ups that can benefit from mentoring and venture capital investment.

Investment capital will be provided by Baxalta, Baxter Ventures, Deerfield Management Company, Milestone Venture Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Safeguard Scientifics, and the Partnership Fund for New York City.

Sponsors of the program include Accenture, Genentech, Infor, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, and Pfizer.

Mentoring will be provided by seventeen leading healthcare organizations, insurance companies, medical centers, and hospital groups. The mentors are Aetna, Allied Physicians Group, Central New York Health Home, Community Healthcare Network, Greater Buffalo United Accountable Healthcare Network, Hospital for Special Surgery, MediSys Health Network, Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens, North Shore-LIJ Health System, NYU Langone Medical Center, Onondaga Case Management Services, Rochester Regional Health System, Stony Brook University Hospital, and Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

The NYDHA was ranked the #1 Health IT Accelerator in the world by the Rotman School of Management as compared to 21 other programs, and has been lauded by Todd Park, former United States Chief Technical Officer, and the California HealthCare Foundation for its deep industry ties.

More information about the New York Digital Health Accelerator is available here.

About the Partnership Fund for New York City:
The Partnership Fund for New York City is the $115 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City. The Fund’s mission is to engage the City’s business leaders to identify and support promising NYC-based entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors to create jobs, spur new business, and expand opportunities for New Yorkers to participate in the City’s economy. The Fund is governed by a Board of Directors co-chaired by Charles “Chip” Kaye, co-chief executive officer of Warburg Pincus, and Tarek Sherif, Chairman and CEO of Medidata. Maria Gotsch serves as President and CEO of the Fund.

About The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC):
NYeC is a not-for-profit organization working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare for all New Yorkers through health information technology (health IT). Founded in 2006 by healthcare leaders, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the State of New York. NYeC works to develop policies and standards, to assist healthcare providers in making the shift to electronic health records, and to coordinate the creation of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), a network to connect healthcare providers statewide.