MedHealth Challenge awards more than $15,000 to three local companies

Health care organizations and innovators from across Southeast Michigan and Southwest Ontario gathered to explore technology-based solutions to the region’s key health care challenges at the first annual MedHealth Summit, held February 14, 2017 at TechTown Detroit. The MedHealth Summit was intended to serve as a platform for collaborative innovation, providing a myriad of opportunities for networking and education about medical device and digital health innovation in our region. The event was supported by a number of partners, including the schools of the University Research Corridor (URC) – Michigan State University (MSU), Wayne State University (WSU) and the University of Michigan (U-M), all of which are members of the MedHealth Regional Innovation Cluster which organized the event.

At the event, The MedHealth Regional Innovation Cluster awarded more than $15,000 plus pro-bono services packages to three early-stage Southeast Michigan digital health and medical device companies. The awards were presented following the MedHealth Challenge pitch competition.

Participants in the MedHealth Challenge presented innovative medical device and digital health solutions designed to help consumers, caregivers, providers, and supporting institutions learn about innovative methods to monitor patient health, increase operational efficiencies and offer improved healthcare options. The Challenge offered two tracks for healthcare start-ups: early-stage companies, who competed for cash and in-kind services in the pitch competition, and market-ready companies, who were matched with companies during the summit and are now presenting their concepts to payers and providers with the goal of launching pilot projects.

Early-stage MedHealth Challenge winners all received cash awards as well as pro bono service packages, which include services from the Michigan Small Business Development Center (MI-SBDC), Harness Dickey law firm, FedEx Small Business Services, Three Leaf Ventures, pitch coaching from New Enterprise Forum (NEF) and In2Being, a Saline-based medical device and product development firm. The early-stage MedHealth Challenge winners are:

SteriDev (1st PRIZE $10,000 cash + $10,000 in services)
SteriDev (steridev.com) is the developer of CleanCase, a single-use sterile case and method of transfer that safely places mobile devices in the sterile field. CleanCase is differentiated from current offerings on the market by providing technically advanced, device-specific, fully functional cases. The company is led by Rob Zondervan, a PhD and medical student studying at Michigan State University. SteriDev’s headquarters are located in Lansing, Michigan.

Melius Outcomes (2nd PRIZE $5,000 cash + $5,000 in services)
Melius Outcomes (meliusoutcomes.com) has developed a solution to capture and cleanse data from a hospital’s EHR (Electronic Health Record) system, display it intuitively to highlight quality issues and then provide actionable recommendations and associated training modules. Melius Outcomes is based in Ann Arbor and is led by AkkeNeel Talsma, PhD, RN, FAAN

Find Your Ditto (3rd PRIZE $2,500 cash + $2,500 in services)
Find Your Ditto (findyourditto.com) is a mobile platform that matches people who share chronic conditions for on-demand, in-person peer support. Find Your Ditto is based in Ann Arbor and is led by Brianna Wolin.

“With some of the nation’s leading health care organizations and a long legacy of innovation, the cross-border region of Southeast Michigan and Southwest Ontario is well poised to foster bold, innovative solutions that disrupt current healthcare models, reduce costs and improve overall patient care,” said Paul Riser, managing director for technology-based entrepreneurship at TechTown, a founding member of the MedHealth Cluster. “The MedHealth Regional Innovation Cluster is excited to be nurturing some of the promising solutions to some of our region’s and nation’s most pressing health care needs.”

The MedHealth Summit and MedHealth Challenge are projects of the MedHealth Regional Innovation Cluster, comprised of numerous health care providers, universities, private sector firms, entrepreneurial service providers and economic development organizations in Southeast Michigan and Southwest Ontario.