OSF Heads East to Explore Health Care Solutions
OSF Innovation, a part of OSF HealthCare, is partnering with MassChallenge, a global early-stage startup accelerator headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that helps young companies succeed through monetary awards, mentorship from its various sponsors and more. OSF Innovation recently signed a one-year agreement to be a Platinum Sponsor of PULSE@MassChallenge, a program that specifically focuses on identifying and accelerating promising digital health startups.
As a partner, OSF has the opportunity to vet hundreds of startups and can choose up to two it will mentor to further develop their companies. This can include helping them connect with health care leaders, initiating pilots and introducing them to investment opportunities.
"We are really excited to be partnering with PULSE@MassChallenge,” said Stan Lynall, Vice President of Venture Investments for OSF ventures. “This will be a great opportunity for OSF to access even more technologies particularly in the areas of expanding our care offerings to seniors and other areas as well."
Other needs OSF is looking to solve for include removing barriers to care for disadvantaged individuals and expanding access to care in ways the organization hasn’t tried before.
Beyond mentorship, companies selected to be part of the six-month long PULSE@MassChallenge program gain access to scholarships, tailored curriculum and more than 8,000 square feet of office space in Boston, the home of Harvard University and MIT. More than 500 startups applied to be part of this year’s second PULSE cohort with about 90 matched to OSF HealthCare. The OSF Innovation Partnerships team interviewed 10 companies, Tuesday, December 5 and will soon choose up to two to mentor.
For OSF, that will mean introducing the startup companies to the health care system, clinicians, subject matter experts and communities it serves. Lynall says many entrepreneurs of these companies are designing solutions for larger metropolitan areas that may not translate well into rural spaces
“It also allows us to provide meaningful input as they develop their products and services in ways that are specific to our Mission and work at OSF,” said Lynall.
In its first year, PULSE@MassChallenge startups addressed elder care, sports injuries, telemedicine, and more. The program this year is focused on challenges facing nutrition, caregiving, the opioid epidemic, genomics, rare diseases, cybersecurity and more.
“Both PULSE and OSF Innovation share in the belief that startups can dramatically improve health care and enhance the lives of patients around the world," said Nick Dougherty, Program Director, PULSE@MassChallenge. "We're excited to be partnering with their team in 2018 to help startups create widespread impact."