PHILADELPHIA, July 17, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Independence Blue Cross (Independence), Penn Medicine, and DreamIt Ventures today announce the cohort of nine health-tech startups selected to participate in DreamIt Health Philadelphia 2014, the third cycle of DreamIt's health-tech accelerator and second held in Philadelphia. The startup teams, recruited from around the country, will participate in a 16-week boot camp from July 21 through November 7 to rapidly achieve key business milestones in building high-growth potential companies. DreamIt Health will host a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. for the Philadelphia entrepreneurial community at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to welcome the companies and celebrate the program's launch.
Independence, Penn Medicine, and DreamIt Ventures jointly selected the companies based on the strength of their teams and the significance of the problems they are tackling within the health care sector. Each team will receive $50,000 in seed capital; coaching from successful tech entrepreneurs; an intense curriculum at the intersection of health care, business, technology and design; free workspace at the University Science Center's Innovation Center, IC@3401; and access to people and resources across leading health care organizations, which are typically out of reach to startups.
The capstone event of the program, Demo Day, will be held on October 30 and affords each team the opportunity to share their progress to date and plans for the future with an audience of several hundred investors, industry leaders, potential customers and the press.
"As we saw from the success of last year's DreamIt class, Philadelphia is an ideal environment for health care innovation, and we are excited to once again participate in this powerful partnership," said Independence President and CEO Daniel J. Hilferty. "With the rapid changes in health care, we absolutely have to find new ways to solve problems. That's why it's vital to invest our energy, expertise and other resources in helping these promising startups build and test their products and services."
"We look forward to continuing our role in driving valuable advances in health care delivery through this program," said Ralph Muller, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "We remain steadfast in our commitment to sharing our expertise and working with our partners to build on this initiative's early successes."
Last year's inaugural DreamIt Health class brought six promising health care startups from across the country to Philadelphia to work alongside four Philadelphia-born startups on a wide range of significant health care issues, including hospital readmissions, cost transparency, health care payments, clinical communications and mobile diagnostics.
"DreamIt Health provided us so much more than funding," said Eric King, co-founder of Grand Round Table, a graduate of the 2013 DreamIt Health class. "The opportunity to connect with companies like Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine was truly invaluable. The anonymous claims data that Independence provided has helped us to solidify our value proposition, helping doctors find appropriate diagnoses faster and reducing the number of unnecessary tests and treatments."
The incoming teams are:
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BioBots (Philadelphia, PA)
Low-cost 3D printers that support multiple biomaterials for creating biological structures without mutation risk.
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Drop Diagnostics (Philadelphia, PA)
Rapid disease diagnosis through detection of signature proteins using carbon nanotubes and microfluidics.
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FlexiSched (Philadelphia, PA)
Dynamic scheduling of patients, predicting no-shows and accounting for variable provider productivity and visit length.
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NarrativeDx (Austin, TX)
Big data analysis of patient feedback to improve the hospital customer experience and maximize Medicare reimbursement.
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RegDesk (Bear, DE)
The leading marketplace for matching biotech and device companies with freelancing regulatory expertise around the world.
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Ristcall (Pittsburgh, PA)
Updating the call button with a wearable for inpatients to communicate on-demand with nursing staff.
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Tissue Analytics (Baltimore, MD)
Remote management of wound healing through image analysis of mobile-generated photos.
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TowerView Health- (Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC/San Francisco, CA)
Improved patient adherence to complex, multi-drug regimens using novel "smart" pillboxes.
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TrueClaim (Philadelphia, PA/Jacksonville, FL)
Reduction of upcoding and fraud in health care claims submissions.
"We're excited to start our work alongside some of the most promising health-tech startups in the nation," said Dr. Elliot Menschik, DreamIt Venture's managing partner for health care. "It will be an intense and transformative 16 weeks for these teams as we coach them through the most volatile period of a company's life and as we wire them into people, resources and opportunities that are significant shortcuts to success in the market."
About DreamIt Ventures
DreamIt Ventures helps exceptional people build exceptional companies. DreamIt operates accelerators in New York, Philadelphia, Austin, and Baltimore. Since its founding in 2008, DreamIt has helped 145 startups reduce risk and speed to market including: Adaptly, LevelUp, Parsely, SeatGeek, MindSnacks, SnipSnap, Peeractive, TrendKite and Biomeme. More information about DreamIt Ventures is available at www.dreamitventures.com, or via email at info@dreamitventures.com.
About Independence Blue Cross
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in southeastern Pennsylvania. With our affiliates, we serve more than 8.8 million people in 24 states and the District of Columbia. For more than 75 years, we have been enhancing the health and wellness of the people and communities we serve by delivering innovative and competitively priced health care products and services; pioneering new ways to reward doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals for coordinated, quality care; and supporting programs and events that promote wellness. To learn more about how we're changing the game, visit www.ibx.com. Connect with us on Facebook at ibx.com/facebook and on Twitter at @ibx. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
About Penn Medicine
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 16 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $398 million awarded in the 2012 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2012, Penn Medicine provided $827 million to benefit our community.