Healthcare providers test new venture capital, innovation models

Photo of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital from Wikipedia

A few academic medical centers, physician networks and health plans are thinking differently about venture capital by coming up with new ways to spark healthcare entrepreneurship.

For example, one health system, instead of hearing product pitches from vendors, is gathering entrepreneurs together to sell them on the idea of building a specific platform to meet its needs. Meanwhile, another is holding “office hours” to allow medical students, residents, nurses or administration staff from any organization to come and talk with hospital admins about ideas for improving the system.

Thomas Jefferson University and Hospitals opened the Jefferson Accelerator Zone in January, a small space in a former office aimed at growing healthcare entrepreneurship in Philadelphia. With an outdoor facade designed to resemble a kite in homage to Ben Franklin, JAZ is offering business and legal advice and potential funding to Jefferson students, clinicians and faculty and anyone else, even competitor academic health systems. It could also end up bringing in some income for Jefferson, which is set to become the area’s largest health system after its merger with Abington Health closes.

[Also: Thomas Jefferson chief rolls out ambitious plans post-merger]

“We’ve noticed for years here that people of all types -- docs, nurses, students, administrators -- bring forward their ideas to improve patient care and engagement,” said Robin Sheldon, Thomas Jefferson’s vice president of innovation management.

Now, Sheldon said, healthcare students and professionals, and those from outside the industry, can come to the co-working space and explore their ideas in an informal setting “We help people decide on different paths and evaluate,” Sheldon said. “We may get behind an idea, either for our own benefit, or for some sort of commercialization, so it can be brought to patients everywhere. That’s very new.”

Sheldon said the health system is in “strategic talks” about setting up a venture fund and also is preparing to file patents for treatments and services in areas like radiation oncology, immunotherapies and infection prevention. “We’re trying to make Philly a healthcare destination for entrepreneurs, to see Philadelphia the same way they see Palo Alto or Boston.”

Across the country, some other healthcare organizations are trying to do the same thing for Seattle.

[Also: Fitch Ratings bullish on for-profit healthcare]

Cambia Health Solutions, the parent of four Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans and portfolio of technology and service companies, has spearheaded the creation of the Cambia Grove, a 9,000-square-foot, free collaborative space where hospital leaders and physicians are more likely to ask technology developers to create products than to hear pitches. Among the Cambia Grove’s anchor partners are the University of Washington Medicine and EvergreenHealth Partners, a clinically integrated physicians network, and the direct primary care company Qliance.

It's part of a quest to evolve the "2.0 healthcare economy," and leverage the many talent technologists and entrepreneurs in greater Seattle, home to successful consumer companies like Amazon, Expedia, REI, T-Mobile and Zillow.

“We’re good at digital solutions in the Pacific Northwest and we hope to compel people to look at healthcare,” said Nicole Bell, executive director at the Cambia Grove. “Healthcare is so far behind.”

For the likes of UW Medicine or EvergreenHealth, and entrepreneurs who want to break into healthcare, Bell sees the Grove as a mutually beneficial opportunity. Rather than issuing a request for proposals from vendors, they can give a “reverse pitch” to a few hundred entrepreneurs, software developers or engineers, and take several of prototypes of ideas. The healthcare organization gets to test a range of approaches, and the would-be entrepreneur can get first customers, case studies and then maybe investor funding.

“UW Medicine’s partnership with the Cambia Grove aligns with our focus to improve the patient experience and improve the health of the population we serve while ensuring that healthcare is affordable for all,” said Paul Ramsey, MD, the CEO, UW Medicine and dean of the medical school. UW Medicine has a network of 10 retail primary care clinics, and could draw on entrepreneurs to use them as part chronic disease care. The health system is also interested in working on palliative care and integrating mental and behavioral health services with primary care.

Twitter: @AnthonyBrino