Cedars-Sinai graduates 8 startups from its Accelerator program

Eight new healthcare technology companies are the latest to complete the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator program, which helps entrepreneurs bring innovative products to market.

As part of this intensive three-month program, each vendor gets an initial investment of $120,000, as well as access to Cedars-Sinai’s clinical expertise and information infrastructure, including hardware, software and digital health technical resources.

This is the fourth class to graduate from the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator program. According to the medical center, startups in the three previous classes have raised nearly $100 million in funding and hired approximately 200 employees since graduating.

“The companies in this Accelerator class are working at the forefront of technologies that can improve the delivery of care,” says Bruce Gewertz, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery, vice dean for academic affairs and vice president of interventional services at Cedars-Sinai. “Beyond their passion for the work, what most impressed me were the innovations—particularly in the area of machine learning—that offer physicians an opportunity to increase their focus on patient care and reduce the potential for risk.”

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Some of the graduates from Cedars-Sinai’s fourth Accelerator class have already secured commercial contracts and pilot programs to advance their solutions. Participants include:

• CardioCube, which provides at-home support to patients with chronic heart disease through a voice-enabled interactive platform that enables patients to track symptoms and receive guidance and education. It has contracts with Cedars-Sinai and John Hopkins.
  
• Digital Medical Tech, an asset tracking company using Bluetooth technology to help healthcare organizations monitor the real-time location of medical equipment, is beginning a pilot with Cedars-Sinai aimed at helping nursing staff locate frequently used equipment, such as infusion pumps, more quickly.
  
• KelaHealth, which uses patient-specific information and machine learning to identify potential surgical complications, has a contract with Duke University to provide specific recommendations to surgeons about steps to reduce risk and minimize potential complications.
  

The other five vendors that graduated recently from the class include:

• ALIS Health, which is a full-service, on-demand digital clinic for women, providing personalized care coordination and improved access to women's health services.
  
• MedPilot, which supports health system billing departments by using data science and behavioral targeting to recommend patient engagement methods, personalize communications and resolve outstanding balances.

• Nicolette, which helps guide parents of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit in comprehending and following the care plan for their newborn.

• Relatable, which has a cloud-based software solution that streamlines how clinicians and healthcare administrators research, compare and acquire medical devices to safely and effectively optimize their supply budgets.
  
• Sopris, which leverages voice recognition, natural language processing and machine learning to automatically translate doctor-patient interactions into clinical notes so that clinicians can focus more fully on their patients.
  

“It’s exciting for us to accelerate the work being done by smart and ambitious entrepreneurs from around the United States and the world,” adds Anne Wellington, managing director of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator. “The success of the companies in this program reflects Cedars-Sinai's position as a leader in innovation and of Los Angeles as an emerging hub for digital health development.”