Rock Health wants to solve the biggest problems in healthcare announcing open applications for their fifth class of digital health startups starting in June.
Digital health startup accelerator, Rock Health has announced they are now accepting applications for their fifth class of future entrepreneurs. The fifth class will take place in San Francisco, CA from June – October 2013. Applications are being accepted through AngelList. Selected startups will each receive:
$100,000 investment from Aberdare Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, the Mayo Clinic, and Mohr Davidow
$30,000 worth of goods, services, and discounts
Office space at our downtown San Francisco HQ, or at our pop-up program at Harvard Medical School
In the blog post announcement from Rock Health CEO, Helle Tecco stated:
Halle Tecco. CEO, Rock Health
“We’re not looking for incremental ideas that simply apply modern technology to minor problems. This isn’t about apps, social networks, or the cloud. We want to solve the biggest problems in healthcare. We want ideas that can reduce system costs by 50%, eliminate medical errors (all of them), cure or prevent diseases, make everyone of us a doctor, cut the time it takes to bring a new therapy (digital or molecule) to market in half, and measure and report quality on a second-by-second basis. So if you’re crazy enough to try, we want to hear from you.”
A few ideas Rock Health would like to see:
Chronic disease management
Chronic conditions account for 75% of health spending in the Unites States. Better managing this population, particularly those at the highest level of risk for hospitalization, is the single largest opportunity to bend the cost curve. Traditional disease management programs can stratify patients, but they are antiquated, labor-intensive and ultimately ineffective in engaging people in their health. Rock Health is looking for unique, multi-disciplinary teams that can help people make lifelong behavioral changes. Starting with protocols that have already been clinically-validated helps. Seriously, just ask our alums at Omada and Wellframe.
Big data management and analytics
Big data is not just an indie-electronic music band, it’s one of the themes we’re excited about. The opportunities here are everywhere, up and down the stack: integration, ETL (extract-transform-load), security, interoperability, sharing. And of course, analytics. Teams that are using new data sources—proliferating from EHRs, clinical and translational science awards, genomics, and many other places—to understand what is actually valuable in medicine and for whom.
Mega-platforms
Without platforms, healthcare will simply end up with pseudo-modernized, yet highly fragmented and siloed products. Platforms have driven innovation in other sectors of technology—think Windows, Facebook, iOS and Stripe. We need more platforms like Rock Health alumnus Eligible that make it unbelievably easy to transact with the healthcare system. Entrepreneurs that can build a platform on top of the 600 EHRs in the country so developers can build modules once and sell many times. Platform for sensors, to aggregate the data and make it meaningful for consumers and practitioners. Platform for digital health companies transforming care management in the preventive, acute, and chronic spaces to sell their clinically-validated outcomes to payers for distribution to consumers
System navigation
It’s a cruel, cruel world, and the healthcare system is no exception. What technologies can help us better navigate this complex system? Think: concierge medicine, care packaging, information transparency and services, purchasing, and more.
HIPAA in a box
Regulations around data, security, and privacy are very different between healthcare and traditional consumer technology companies. We need a zero energy process for startups (and ultimately large organizations) to be compliant in a world that is quickly moving from behind-the-firewall, on-premises software to cloud- and SaaS-based models. HaaS (HIPAA-as-a-service) should be a comprehensive package: technology and process. We need it all: super secure cloud servers with the specified audit trails and access requirements along with the policies and procedures, training, and everything else necessary for companies to be 100% HIPAA-compliant. Bottomline: make it simple and seamless.
Disruptive diagnostics
Products that bring down the cost of diagnostics or monitoring—like Rock Health alum CellScope and Sano. What ideas do you have to leverage technology to stay healthy, manage disease, and help bring down healthcare costs? How can we use technology to reconfigure the care delivery stack (specialists, PCPs, nurse practitioners/physician assistants, nurses, caregivers/aides, consumers) through empowerment? Technologies that make it incredibly safe and remarkably convenient for everyone in the stack to “play up”.
Transitional care, home health, and aging in place
Technology that makes the home the long-term care facility of the future. Homes can be significantly safer, higher quality and less costly than existing facilities. Do it for Grandma, she’ll be a lot happier and healthier at home.
The Brain Game
Technologies that explore brain health like portfolio companies NeuroTrack and BrainBot. Think about ways technology can better diagnose psychiatric and neurological disease, facilitate treatment including psychological counseling, and monitor patient response to treatment.
Your Black Swan idea to bring technology to this balkanized, archaic industry.
Entrepreneurs that are ready to transform the healthcare industry should apply for Rock Health’s fifth class that will take place from June – October 2013. Applications are due by midnight on March 17, 2013. On April 9th, we’ll invite 40 startups to participate in a round of phone or in-person interviews from April 15th – April 24. On May 2nd, they will invite 20 semi-finalists for final interviews at Rock Health HQ on May 15th and 16th. Finalists will be notified by May 17th and the program commences on June 10th.
The program is five month seed accelerator program assists startups in turning their ideas into businesses providing access to community of experts. Applicants must meet the following program criteria:
2+ founders with a scalable, sustainable idea
Entire team must be able to work from the Rock Health offices full time throughout the entire duration the program
