November 18, 2015

By Norm Volsky, Director of Mobile Healthcare IT Practice

Last week, I attended the mHealth Summit in Washington D.C. for the third consecutive year. There is always a lot of excitement leading up to the show with emerging companies eager to show off their innovative technology. This year there were mostly young, high growth companies in attendance although large companies like Qualcomm Life and IBM had a strong presence at the show (which is a good sign for the industry as a whole). Of the many companies that were in attendance, the following caught my eye:

• Edamam- A unique platform to help any person eat healthier. With over 1 Million recipes in their database, it allows someone to customize their meal choices depending on their goals/needs. Not only does it help people with food allergies, it also helps people trying to fight a chronic condition or even someone who is simply trying to eat healthier. Edamam has had significant traction and has grown its user base 15X in the past year.

• CareSync- Chronic Disease Management/Care Coordination solution with over 100,000 patients using their solution/service. Their goal is to allow collaboration between every stakeholder in the care continuum and help get the right information to the right care team member at the right time. In helping their patients navigate their way through the Health System, they improve the quality of care and patient experience drastically. In 2015, the White House recognized CareSync’s chief operating officer, Amy Gleason RN, as one of nine “Champions of Change” for its national precision medicine initiative.

• io- HIPAA compliant cloud computing vendor that enables innovative mHealth partners to scale appropriately. Its hosting and managed services encourage interoperability and allows its customers to save significant dollars. A “Last Mile Provider” that enables many companies to thrive affordably.

• CareClix- Healthcare specific Telemedicine platform with over 3.5 Million members that is geared towards both primary and specialty care. This software connects with devices and shares biometric patient data, enabling patients in remote/rural markets to get high quality care while keeping costs low.

• rimidi- Diabetes management platform to help patients manage their chronic condition. Allows patients to meet their glucose targets and create a more efficient cycle of care by encouraging communication. Tracks glucose, weight, exercise, etc. and using this data predicts glucose readings.

• VisualDx- The name of the game is reducing errors in diagnosis. Using their unique clinical decision support tools that leverages medical images, they help their customers get the diagnosis correct. Although the company originated in the dermatology market (followed by ophthalmology and oral medicine), recently the company launched an innovative solution to address general medicine. VisualDx is also making a strong push into the international market.

• PokitDok- API platform that helps enable mHealth apps to function better. This solution allows its customers to do transactions easier and have access to powerful data.

• MDLIVE- Announced an expansion of their virtual care collaboration with Walgreens to an additional 20 states. The Telemedicine vendor has also have been making waves in the behavioral health market recently.

• Doc Halo- Mobile Health Platform that enables HIPAA compliant communication, clinical alarms management, nurse call, scheduling, care coordination and more. Company has been expanding its footprint drastically in some prominent accounts.

• Science 37- Groundbreaking vendor simplifying the process of participating in clinical trials and giving patients access to the world’s best scientists. Their mobile platform allows a clinical trial to reach rural/underprivileged participants (which has huge advantages for rare disease research). Shifts the care setting from the hospital to the patient’s home which improves patient experience while reducing cost significantly. Increases speed of the trial and results are the highest data quality.

• Validic- Digital Health Platform that allows accessibility and integration to patient recorded data from mHealth apps, devices and wearables. Getting a lot of traction recently into the pharma and clinical trials market along with international markets. They doubled in size last year.

• iVEDiX- Mobile Business Intelligence platform that enables the flow of bidirectional data. Secured business with the United Nations and has gotten some significant traction with healthcare providers.

• Saturn Care- Chronic Disease Management program that enables providers to care for their patients remotely and get reimbursed for it. This program allows the care team to be in control and educate patients properly.

Overall, I came back from the mHealth Summit energized to get back to work in this great industry. Based on the impressive technology I saw last week, I am confident the mobile HIT space is thriving and poised for more growth. I feel so lucky to be able to work in a space where people are so passionate about improving patient care and hospital efficiency.

The next trade show I am planning on attending is HIMSS in Las Vegas…if you are interested in having your company highlighted in my next blog, please let me know.

All the Best

Norm