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HHS Announces First Group from Health Tech Startup Accelerator

HHS has shared how the 15 health tech startups in the first cohort of the PandemicX Accelerator are tackling federal health challenges.

a hallway with data siloes that represent health IT

Source: Getty Images

By Shania Kennedy

- The inaugural cohort of the HHS PandemicX Accelerator have completed the public-private health collaboration program and are sharing how they are addressing federal health challenges such as health equity and public health.

PandemicX Accelerator is designed to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the health tech space through mentorship and development opportunities. Startups selected for participation were chosen based on their proposals to create equitable COVID-19 healthcare solutions and tackle federal health challenges.

Through the program, which is funded by HHS and managed by the non-profit MassChallenge HealthTech, startups are matched with industry leaders to work on projects related to their proposals. The program takes place over six months, during which each startup will collaborate with industry and utilize tailored curriculum and resources to create actionable solutions to health challenges.

Some of these challenges include health equity by design, national public health solutions, behavioral and mental health, socioeconomic outcome indicators, and community resilience. The program is designed to leverage the power of both private and public stakeholders to spur innovation in these areas.

“The world needs technological and business innovation to increase equitable assets and to create a resilient society,” said Micky Tripathi, US National Coordinator for Health IT. “We know HealthTech startups are a force of good to help make wellness, health, and wealth an accessible right, not a privilege. You cannot have health without resilience; you cannot have health without inclusion.”

The 15 startups in this cohort are innovating in various areas:

  1. Carium is a virtual care platform focused on delivering high-quality care via real-time collaboration with patients, data insights, and support for behavior modification.
  2. CBOH is a digital health platform that allows organizations to organize and share health statuses with patients and caregivers to keep everyone on the care team informed.
  3. Culture Care Collective is a hybrid health support program in which community health workers are integrated into clinical care teams to help coordinate care for underserved groups in an effort to increase access to socially supportive healthcare at low costs.
  4. EatWell Meal Kits creates prescription meal kits to prevent diabetes and food insecurity, lowering the healthcare costs associated with both.
  5. Eupnoos Ltd enables smartphones to be used for clinical lung function testing and symptom monitoring, data interpretation, and reporting.
  6. Ferrum Health is an AI-driven command center that provides an onboard hardware and software platform and a catalog of artificial intelligence (AI) applications to help hospitals create and streamline their AI strategy.
  7. HealthOpX is a social determinants of health (SDOH) software startup that helps community-based organizations collaborate with healthcare and government organizations to engage and improve the health of at-risk patients.
  8. HeyRenee is a patient-centric “digital front door” that unifies previously disconnected providers, partners, and data to enable proactive care.
  9. Juli is an AI-driven chronic condition management platform for multi-factorial and comorbid conditions, which allows patients to track their conditions, understand their triggers, and receive recommendations on how to get better or avoid a future episode.
  10. ManagaingLife is a digital pain management solution that enables self-management, measurement, and remote monitoring.
  11. OMNY Health is a real-world data and analytics platform for providers and health systems to help generate insights and improve healthcare delivery.
  12. Opeeka helps health systems track recovery with its Person-Centered Intelligence Solution, which is designed to facilitate the implementation of person-centered collaborative care.
  13. Patientory, Inc’s tools are focused on data security, allowing stakeholders to store and transfer information safely and minimize data breaches.
  14. Unmute is focused on improving patient-therapist match quality, which improves rates of therapy success and reduces costs.
  15. Welfie is a care coordination platform that provides educational content about self-care and the importance of both social networks and community for health, while also providing care coordination services.