Photo credit: Getty/Olivier Le Moal
With an eye on having innovation running across the entire organization, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is readying for the second class for its startup accelerator program.
The Los Angeles-based health system jump-started the accelerator initiative last year with the help of TechStars, according to an interview with Chief Medical Information Officer Richard Riggs, M.D., published in Healthcare Informatics.
Eleven companies took part in the program’s first run, and applications for the second class are due in by October. Currently, Riggs said, there aren’t enough accelerators in healthcare compared to other industries to give startup companies the boost they need.
“I think that many of these companies may not see the light of day,” he said.
He added that the variety of companies in the first class of the accelerator program, from data analytics to medical devices, is a clear indication of how much opportunity healthcare holds for technological innovation.
Cedars-Sinai also is working with all the companies, post accelerator, in some capacity, Riggs said. One example he noted is a smartphone application for mindfulness. The medical center connected the startup with physicians so its developers can get a clinical point of view on the tool.
“It’s not so much giving advice on the technology pieces, it’s the clinical insertion of the technology into the clinical space and where that might fit that’s most helpful to these companies,” Riggs said.
It’s not just health systems getting into the digital startup game, either. Massachusetts, looking to secure its place in the healthcare industry as a digital innovation hub, has created a public-private partnership that aims to lure tech innovators to the state.