Mobile health incubator Rock Health recently announced its second group of startups, the "Spring Class of 2012." The 15 companies will begin the incubator's five month program in January. The program includes $20,000 in grants, mentorship from health policy and business experts, as well as office space.
Rock Health, founded by four Harvard Business School graduates, launched as an digital health incubator in March. Rock announced its first class of startups in June. The first batch included 13 companies, including CellScope and Skimble.
During a recent interview with TechCrunch TV, Rock Health Managing Director Halle Tecco said that of the 13 startups in its first class of startups, "a good handful of them have already received funding."
TechCrunch TV also asked Tecco why startups should join Rock Health instead of other incubators, like Y Combinator. Tecco said that the startups in Rock Health's program benefit from its network of mentors, which offer expertise in the nuances of healthcare policy, regulation, and business models.
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Read on for a brief description of each of the 15 companies in the Class of 2012:
Agile Diagnosis is a web and mobile app that provides clinical decision support for doctors. Developed by three University of Chicago physicians, the company has previously received funding from UChicagoTech's Innovation Fund and the 2011 New Venture Challenge.
Avva prepares breast cancer patients for doctor visits by guiding them in creating tailored questions to bring to their next appointment. A summary of key concerns and priorities can be created using Avva, and then printed out to review with a user's physician.
Cardiio: Information on this company is sparse. What's clear is that it's a consumer-facing company that provides tools for managing the user's health. According to their company profiles on Twitter and Facebook, they describe their work as follows: "Empowering people with simple yet powerful tools to experiment, gain insight and take charge of their health and wellbeing."
Care at Hand is an EHR and workflow support system for home-based care agencies. With Care at Hand, family members will be able to access medical information via an online portal.
ChickRX is an online community for young women that aims to be more sociable and consumer-oriented and less clinically focused in providing health information. Users can read health-related news, ask questions and get responses from health and wellness experts.
Cognitive Health Innovations provides an online portal aimed at helping mental health issues and personal growth "using scientifically validated psychotherapeutic techniques and structured social interactions." Cognitive Health Innovations co-founder Jay Phillips stated on Twitter that the company title is a "pre-brand name" and is likely to change.
Docphin is a web service that creates personalized medical content from the news, medical journals, and Twitter for physicians and medical students based on keywords for their speciality. Users can sort content by most recent, viewed, and commented.
Epi.Md: Winner of Practice Fusion’s Health 2.0 Developer Challenge earlier this year, Epi.Md offers a population management tool for providers to manage their patients health records and send them relevant information when applicable. “Providers spend significant portions of their day entering information into medical records, but that information often then becomes inaccessible,” stated John Schrom, co-founder of epi.md, in a press release about the Rock Health second class. “Our goal is to fully utilize their effort, and find new and innovative ways to turn that information into action. We see epi.md as becoming the leader of innovation in the field of health informatics.”
GetMyCare: Offers a way for patients to find at-home care providers that are a tailored fit for their specific needs. Both patients and providers create user profiles with experience and availability. Providers then fill out an online questionnaire for an accurate match.
HealthRally: HealthRally combines financial incentives and social networking by creating a fundraising crowd platform similar to the website Kickstarter, which enables micro-investments for various causes and projects. Users post their health goals, called Rallys, which might include losing weight or quitting smoking, and friends, colleagues, family or others donate money to motivate users to complete them. HealthRally recently raised $400,000 from a group of prominent angel investors, which included Esther Dyson.
Helpful Systems: Offers an analytics system to identify the most at-risk patients for developing a hospital-acquired infection, using information such as patient demographics, patient and staff behavior patterns, and hospital logistics.
Nephosity: Provides cloud-based services for enterprises. Its healthcare offering, MobileCT, is a medical imaging app that's already available in the AppStore. The app's description notes that it is not currently FDA cleared for diagnostic usage.
Sano Intelligence: Creating a mobile sensor that continuously monitors metabolic panel data and transmits it to patients, providers, and the chronically ill, according to TechCrunch.
Senstore: Developing a diagnostic device that resembles a medical tricorder. Senstore is one of the handful mHealth companies, including Scanadu, attempting to create a device that includes diagnostic and telemedicine functions that can be easily used by consumers in a noninvasive manner. The company was started at Singularity University’s graduate program.
Sessions: A social platform for encouraging exercise. Users will share workout sessions and meet new people through participating in healthy activities.
It should be noted that the focuses (and products) of these companies are tentative and liable to change as they go through Rock Health's program.
