Elemeno Health, a Y Combinator-backed digital health startup has raised $1.3 million in seed funding led by Launchpad Digital Health. The startup plans to use the funding to expand and invest in its proprietary cloud solution for frontline healthcare teams. Currently, Elemeno Health’s app is in use by teams in multiple health systems in California, including UCSF.
Founded in 2016 by UCSF Associate Professor Arup Roy-Burman, MD, and veteran Electronic Arts (EA) Game Developer Ed Nanale, Elemeno Health’s cloud-based virtual coach engages frontline nurses, doctors and ancillary staff, helping them adhere to the consistent delivery of best practices and enhance teamwork. . Accessible from any device, the cloud-solution app enables healthcare teams to easily access best practice guidelines, up-to-date checklists and how-to videos. Complicated best practices are simplified into bite-sized, just-in-time learning, and the social and gamification elements included in the software are designed to motivate team members. The app does not use patient data and meets the strict security standards within HIPAA requirements.
In 2017, UCSF published a peer-reviewed clinical study in the American Journal of Medical Quality demonstrating how Elemeno Health provides healthcare with a scalable digital solution through an approach that is based on just-in-time micro-learning and self-assessment checklists. Specifically, a one-year study at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco targeted central line care. Elemeno’s prototype was deployed in half of the hospital and the pilot engaged over 200 nurses.
The results show that the app helped to cut central line infections (a costly and deadly HAI) in half, saving over $1 million and an estimated three lives. At the 2017 American College of Medical Quality National Conference, Elemeno Health presented two oral abstracts which additionally demonstrated efficacy in decreasing C. difficile hospital-acquired diarrhea, and improving staff engagement and patient satisfaction.
“Medicine today has the ability to save more lives than ever before, however, the endless volume of new processes and procedures is too much for frontline teams to master, resulting in repeated errors, inefficiencies, waste and burnout,” said Arup Roy-Burman, MD, chief executive officer and co-founder of Elemeno Health. “With a rapidly expanding knowledge-practice gap challenging healthcare, there is no better way to cut through the noise than with a simple solution that streamlines best practices and care. Our cloud-based virtual coach addresses this significant healthcare challenge and is helping healthcare systems deliver lifesaving results.”
