Startups learn from hospital investors
Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Modern Healthcare Metrics
MDHC_Logotype_white
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Register
  • Login
  • News
    • This Week's News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition
    • CMS to repay hospitals for doctor's visits
      Community Health Systems' CFO to retire at end of year
      Chart reviews boost Medicare Advantage payments by $6.7 billion, OIG finds
      Florida provider to pay $85K fine for not sharing timely patient records
    • HealthPartners sheds more than 400 jobs across three rounds of cuts
      Kaiser Permanente seeks to address trauma in 25,000 schools by 2023
      KPC Group misses key deadline on Verity hospitals purchase
      Not-for-profit hospitals stabilized by Medicare pay raise, DSH cut delays
    • Michigan Blues makes deals with seven health organizations aiming to bend cost curve
      ACA exchange enrollment lags as deadline nears
      Plan members unlikely to benefit from Supreme Court risk corridor battle
      Joan Budden
      Q&A: Priority Health CEO eager to share best practices with Total Health Care
    • CMS to repay hospitals for doctor's visits
      Capitol Building with pills
      Week Ahead: House to vote on drug bill; SCOTUS hears risk-corridor case
      MedPAC thinks hospice payments are too high
      MedPAC says ambulatory surgical centers don't need a pay raise
    • Analysts to CommonSpirit Health: Show us the savings
      Smallest hospitals saw biggest earnings gains last month
      Sutter Health postpones financial filing
      doctor helping patient stock image Sandoz
      Sponsored Content Provided By Sandoz
      As hospital executives look to reduce costs, biosimilars offer a compelling option
    • astronaut
      Astronauts developed bloodstream issues in space
      Sponsored Content Provided By ABM Healthcare
      Protecting and Maintaining Medical Devices
      human hand robotic hand stock image
      Sponsored Content Provided By Deloitte
      The Health System of the Future: How Digital Health Technology is Transforming Care
      EHR
      EHR vendors most in-use throughout Medicare incentive program
    • Hospitals need more than HCAHPS to measure patient experience, report says
      Promising greater safety, a tiny widget creates chaos for tube feeders
      IHI releases principles for improving patient safety measures
      MRIs of dense breasts find more cancer but also false alarms
    • Community Health Systems' CFO to retire at end of year
      Kaiser Permanente names Gregory Adams CEO
      Google Health hires AliveCor's chief medical officer
      Trinity Health appoints new COO: Ben Carter
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Special Features
    • Best Practices
    • InDepth Special Reports
    • Innovations
    • Chest x-ray from a patient with a vaping-related lung injury
      Vaping-related cases lead to care guidelines from Intermountain
      Arkansas Children’s was a founding partner in Solutions for Patient Safety.
      Children's hospitals collaborate rather than compete on patient safety
      Peer recovery specialists at St. Barnabas Medical Center work with nurse Brenna Zarra.
      Peer recovery helping patients with addiction seek treatment
      UNC Health Care trains staff to treat dementia patients
    • Linda Kenney
      Patient advocate recalls two medical errors that nearly killed her
      Betsy Lehman
      Recent safety scandals suggest healthcare leaders haven't learned lessons
      Doctors and nurse with patient
      20 years after 'To Err is Human,' hospital care quality measures are still of little use
      Dr. Christine Cassel
      To err is human. That’s still true 20 years later, but some solutions to the problem aren’t helping
    • Advanced ICU Care
      Telemedicine helps rural hospitals meet intensivist shortage
      Randy Oostra, CEO of ProMedica
      HCR ManorCare deal laid foundation for ProMedica’s growth
      Paging Dr. Robot: Artificial intelligence moves into care
      A child being screened for vision problems using a smartphone.
      App screens kids for eye problems before they can talk
  • Transformation
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • ProMedica doubles down on social needs data analysis
      Amazon taps first pharmacy for Alexa Rx management
      Trump administration unveils new price transparency rules
      A child being screened for vision problems using a smartphone.
      App screens kids for eye problems before they can talk
    • Health systems weigh return on investment as they ramp up tech
      VA dives into artificial intelligence R&D
      Home health to pare down therapy services, up telehealth offerings
      Amazon launches medical transcription service
    • Chest x-ray from a patient with a vaping-related lung injury
      Vaping-related cases lead to care guidelines from Intermountain
      Advanced ICU Care
      Telemedicine helps rural hospitals meet intensivist shortage
      Peer recovery specialists at St. Barnabas Medical Center work with nurse Brenna Zarra.
      Peer recovery helping patients with addiction seek treatment
      UNC Health Care trains staff to treat dementia patients
    • CMS to repay hospitals for doctor's visits
      Chart reviews boost Medicare Advantage payments by $6.7 billion, OIG finds
      Value-based pay still struggles to improve costs, quality
      Hospitals sue HHS over negotiated price disclosure rule
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Data Points
    • Modern Healthcare Metrics
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
    • Randy Oostra, CEO of ProMedica
      HCR ManorCare deal laid foundation for ProMedica’s growth
      Steve Strongwater
      How Atrius Health stayed independent by not shying away from risk
      Why moving the VA to a new EHR was a pivotal decision
      Why AdventHealth's rebrand was more than a name change
    • Terry Shaw
      A diverse and inclusive culture should empower others
      Paving the path to diversity and inclusion
      The next step in healthcare evolution
      Breaking Bias: A road map to boost women and minorities into healthcare leadership
    • Dr. Richard Snyder
      Outdated privacy laws hinder coordinated care, especially in the fight against addiction
      David Dill and Keith Myers
      Healthcare partnerships are a proven path to better care, healthier communities
      Health systems need to devote more resources to caring for the caregivers
      Chip Kahn and Alan Morgan
      Rural healthcare needs innovation, policy changes to survive
    • Letters: Let’s keep humanity in discussions about patient safety
      Hospital with money
      Letters: Let providers set their prices,
 and then publish them all
      Letters: Ambulatory surgery centers aren't getting a break on regulation
      Letters: Rising Medicaid spending isn't a windfall for providers
    • Sponsored Content Provided By Optum
      How blockchain could ease frustration with the payment process
      Sponsored Content Provided By Optum
      Three steps to better data-sharing for payer and provider CIOs
      Sponsored Content Provided By Optum
      Reduce total cost of care: 6 reasons why providers and payers should tackle the challenge together
      Sponsored Content Provided By Optum
      Why CIOs went from back-office operators to mission-critical innovators
  • Awards
    • Nominate
    • Award Programs
    • Previous Award Programs
    • Other Award Programs
    • Nominations Open - Top 25 Minority Leaders
      Nominations Open - Health Care Hall of Fame
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Top 25 Minority Leaders
    • Top 25 Women Leaders
    • Excellence in Nursing Awards
    • Design Awards
    • Top 25 COOs in Healthcare
    • 100 Top Hospitals
    • ACHE Awards
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Webinars
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Healthcare Transformation Summit
    • Critical Connections: Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Workplace of the Future Conference
    • Strategic Marketing Conference
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Minority Leaders Gala (2020)
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Finance
March 11, 2017 12:00 AM

Startups learn from hospital investors

Dave Barkholz
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    AUGMEDIX

    Carm Huntress says he's happy for the tens of thousands of dollars that UCHealth has invested in his startup software company, which offers physicians point-of-care prescribing guidance.

    But beyond financing growth, the Colorado-based system's partnership has provided RxRevu developers with invaluable feedback from the frontline emergency room physicians who use the software, Huntress said. And that's increased the startup's credibility among customers both current and potential.

    “It's been a real point of validation,” Huntress said of the two-year partnership. Across the country, emerging health technology companies like RxRevu, Binary Fountain and Augmedix are finding it beneficial to hitch their wagons, at least in part, to hospital venture capital funds.

    More health systems are starting venture capital funds focused on healthcare after seeing the returns enjoyed over the years by pioneers such as Ascension, Dignity Health and Cleveland Clinic, said Derek Baird, vice president at Chicago-based Avia, a national network of health system innovators that itself receives venture capital from health systems.

    Conversely, tech companies increasingly are tapping into the capital, expertise and connections that these hospital-sponsored funds can bring, Baird said. “We're seeing even midsized regional health systems start eight- to nine-figure venture capital funds.”

    Over each of the past three years, venture capital funding of digital health companies exceeded $4 billion, according to a recent study by Rock Health. The data show that more venture investment went into digital health firms during the first month of 2016 than all of 2011.

    UCHealth contributed a chunk of the nearly $4.7 million RxRevu has raised since early 2014. Denver-based RxRevu's software helps busy clinicians pick the right prescription for patients.

    MH STRATEGIES

    Benefits of hospitals investing their venture capital in health startups:

    The startups get more than funds. They get instant feedback on products.

    Startups can roll out products across a health system rather than marketing door-to-door.

    Hospitals and systems get first crack at technologies that they have nurtured.

    Hospitals diversify their investments beyond bonds, stocks and other traditional instruments.

    It got its first trial in the emergency department of the University of Colorado Hospital in early 2016, Huntress said. Sitting side-by-side with clinicians and staff, RxRevu staffers worked for months massaging the software so that the medication information it yielded could be obtained readily as part of the ER workflow.

    Having that access was invaluable and only possible because the hospital made it a priority. “We need that tight-knit collaboration,” Huntress said. UCHealth participated in RxRevu's first funding, which raised $540,000 in 2014, as well as some of the other four.

    The RxRevu software was first used for prescribing antibiotics, said Dr. Richard Zane, chairman of the emergency medicine department for UCHealth's seven hospitals and 22 other ERs scattered over 100 ambulatory locations in Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Physicians took to the technology and now the system wants to get all drugs prescribed in the ER built into the software, Zane said. Then UCHealth wants to offer it in all its ERs.

    Zane underscored the word “offer”; emergency physicians don't have to use it. Yet since the software installation, adherence to recommended guidelines for specific antibiotic use has jumped from 45% to 65%, Zane said.

    Augmedix has grown quickly by having such large health systems as Dignity Health and Sutter Health among its biggest investors, said Pelu Tran, president and co-founder of the technology-enabled medical transcription business. Since 2013, Augmedix has raised $60 million in venture funding.

    Augmedix saves its individual physician users 15 hours per week on clinical data entry simply by wearing Google Glass to record patient visits. An Augmedix employee remotely inputs the data into the office's electronic health record system in real time.

    That gives physicians more time to spend with patients. What's more, the real-time transcriptions are more accurate since the physician doesn't have to go back later and try to remember exactly what was said, Tran said.

    With big health systems funding the company and championing its services at their facilities, Augmedix has grown to 1,000 employees worldwide, with 200 in the U.S.

    This story first appeared in Modern Healthcare's Transformation Hub, Modernhealthcare.com/Transformation

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Sponsored Content
    Get Free Newsletters

    Sign up for free enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today

    The weekly magazine, websites, research and databases provide a powerful and all-encompassing industry presence. We help you make informed business decisions and lead your organizations to success.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS
    • Instagram

    Stay Connected

    Join the conversation with Modern Healthcare through our social media pages

    MDHC_Logotype_white
    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2019. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • This Week's News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition
    • Special Features
      • Best Practices
      • InDepth Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Transformation
      • Patients
      • Operations
      • Care Delivery
      • Payment
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Data Points
      • Modern Healthcare Metrics
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate
      • Award Programs
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Top 25 Minority Leaders
        • Top 25 Women Leaders
      • Previous Award Programs
        • Excellence in Nursing Awards
        • Design Awards
        • Top 25 COOs in Healthcare
      • Other Award Programs
        • 100 Top Hospitals
        • ACHE Awards
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Healthcare Transformation Summit
        • Critical Connections: Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Workplace of the Future Conference
        • Strategic Marketing Conference
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Minority Leaders Gala (2020)
      • Webinars
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing