EHR Vendor Cerner Co-Hosts Pediatric Care Health IT Innovation Event

EHR vendor Cerner Corporation recently co-hosted a digital health accelerator event to boost health IT innovation for pediatric care.

The EHR vendor joined the Bear Institute and Children’s National Hospital to hold the first annual Bear Institute PACK (Pediatric Accelerator Challenge for Kids) on August 26. The start-up competition aims to address the funding gap in digital health innovation for pediatric care.

“Children are a unique population that requires different health solutions than those designed for adults, which address their unique needs,” Lu de Souza, MD, vice president and chief medical officer of Cerner Corporation, said in a press release.

“With Bear Institute PACK, we hope to increase focus and delivery of digital health innovations for kids,” de Souza continued. “Bear Institute PACK brings together the pediatric health care community, including pediatric health care providers and hospital administrators from across the country to identify top start-up digital applications that best serve children.” 

Start-up participants competed across four tracks: rare disease, telemedicine, remote patient monitoring (RPM), and patient education. Student teams competed in a separate student track.

In the rare disease track, Bloom Standard, Inc. took first place with its Automated Ultrasound Wrap solution that screens infants and children for serious lung and cardiac conditions. Mira Medical LLC came in second place for its pediatric growth modeling application solution, Bear Growth.

Keriton, Inc. took first place in the telehealth track for its healthcare SaaS platform, Keriton Kare. The platform aims to improve outcomes for neonatal and pediatric patients.

For the remote patient monitoring track, Sonavi Labs came in first place for its digital solution Feelix, a platform capable of detecting respiratory diseases.

Smileyscope won first place in the patient education track with its comprehensive virtual reality platform that aims to help support patients with procedural pain management, guided relaxation, drug-free anxiety care, and education.

For the student track, CASP Technologies came in first place with its solution Operation Serenity. The health IT tool aims to help pediatric patients prepare for and understand their simulated surgery to reduce anxiety.

Coming in second place on the student track was Ankle Rehab for its Foot Joystick for Children with Cerebral Palsy tool meant to improve mobility.

The competition consisted of three rounds of judging. First, the Bear Institute PACK team conducted an initial review of applications. Then, participating pediatric healthcare providers and administrators judged the health IT applications. Lastly, an expert panel of judges reviewed the health IT tools during finalists’ live pitches. 

The prize pool included cash prizes totaling over $100,000, software development support, and on-site pilots.

Judges chose a winner for each of the event’s four health IT innovation tracks and an additional two student team winners.

“This year’s Bear Institute PACK had a lot of start-ups and student team participants with very impressive innovation solutions for kids. Selecting a single winner in each innovation track was a tough decision, and it was encouraging to see all the work being done to bring these solutions to market,” said Matt MacVey, vice president and chief information officer of Children’s National Hospital.

“Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make the inaugural Bear Institute PACK a success,” MacVey continued. “We hope to make next year even bigger as we continue to strive to close the gap in funding for children’s digital health innovation.”