Isolation is among the most difficult conditions for New Jersey-area COVID-19 patients who are being treated for infections. Cut off from most personal interaction with health care workers — not to mention family members — it raises the anxiety level for the needy.
Newark-based startup PadInMotion thinks it can help.
The company, which was part of a previous cohort at Newark Venture Partners, customized the user experience of its tablet-based product for COVID-19 use. One aspect of the platform enables video connection between patients and hospital workers. Typically, these workers otherwise would have been required to dress in the hospital’s limited personal protection equipment before entering the patient’s room.
CEO Nir Altman said the connection created by PadInMotion is used during consultation, importantly allowing more than one health care worker to join in a single collaborative conversation. By avoiding face-to-face meetings, the risk of infection of the hospital workers is reduced, he said.
Altman said the tablet is being used at some RWJBarnabas Health hospitals and most medical centers in New York City. This week, it will be introduced at Valley Health, he said.
The product’s value has grown during the pandemic, Altman said.
“Perhaps the tablet’s most valuable application is that it can be the window to the world for these patients,” he said. “For many, the last time these patients are able to see family members is when they have loaded them into the ambulance. These are heartbreaking conditions.”
Patients also can use PadInMotion to learn about treatments and other medical information, as it gives them something to help occupy their time.
Newark Venture Partners Principal Joanne Lin said PadInMotion is one of group of tech startups from NVP that have become vital tools for area hospitals and health care facilities managing the coronavirus pandemic.
The companies, which include Wellsheet, CircleLink Health, 1Huddle, Speak2 Software and DocDelta, are being deployed to manage a range of particular situations, including the increase in emergency room visits, training new staff and medical volunteers and reducing physician burnout, Lin said.
“Right now, all that matters is how we get beyond the coronavirus,” she said. “At NVP, we are proud to be part of a community where so many founders have stepped in to be part of the solution. It’s been a reminder of how innovation can and should serve to move us forward — especially in times of crisis.”
Wellsheet, a predictive workflow platform that enables doctors to view multiple sets of patient information, makes assessing the information needed for decision-making more efficient, according to Frederik Lindberg, the company’s vice president of product.
Wellheet, which Lindberg said is being used in seven hospitals in New Jersey, offers a more physician-friendly view of key clinical content directly within the electronic health record system, reducing the burden on health care providers and saving them up to two hours a day.
“This information (normally) is spread to many places, each requiring many clicks,” he said. “Pieces are not visible together in context. It takes a lot of time to assemble the details and get a picture of what’s going on. When waiting for an important result, the doctor has to navigate to the right place to search, only to find that the result is not back yet. This wastes time, especially in cases such as delayed COVID-19 tests.”
CircleLink Health’s telenursing team, made up entirely of registered nurses, helps health systems in northern New Jersey and nationwide care for the worried well and sick at home, answering questions, coordinating care and referring patients to appropriate care settings before patients physically visit practices or take up staff time with calls.
“We’re honored to help vulnerable patients stay cared for at home while supporting our courageous physician customers. Patient enrollment rates are at all-time highs in this crisis,” cofounder and CEO Raphael Ansety said.
Sam Caucci, founder and CEO at 1Huddle, said it has a platform that gamifies workforce training. It recently released a new COVID-19 “Game Pack,” which is being deployed to 33,000 health care employees in New Jersey on facts, updates and best practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization.
“Now is the time to lean in to your workforce,” Caucci said.
Lin said each of the companies have been through NVP Labs, the Newark Venture Partners accelerator program for early stage startups.
NVP uses an inside-out approach to its investments, leaning on corporate partners like RWJBarnabas to validate pain points and opportunities prior to acceptance, she said. The model, she said, aims to capture problem solving founders and elevate real world solutions for today’s industries.
