1776 and MedStar Health Announce Startup Pitch Challenge
Pitch competition will seek and incubate startup solutions to redefine convenient, consumer-friendly health care
Washington, D.C., (March 10, 2017)—MedStar Health and 1776 are leveraging their partnership for healthcare innovation by issuing a challenge to find and incubate startups redefining convenient, consumer-friendly health care.
Competing startups will pitch their ideas in June in response to the MedStar Challenge: Thinking Outside Healthcare’s Traditional Box—Shifting the Frame from Patient to Consumer. The winning teams will be awarded the exclusive opportunity to join the six-month MedStar innovation lab cohort. This incubator program will be run on 1776’s global innovation network, Union, and hosted at 1776’s Crystal City campus. The program will culminate in a demonstration day for investors and MedStar stakeholders looking to invest in and pilot project opportunities.
“Innovation is increasingly transforming patient care beyond the hospital, into more accessible settings like urgent care sites, ambulatory complexes and surgery centers, retail pharmacies, the home and anywhere consumers are connected digitally,” said Mark Smith, M.D., chief innovation officer of MedStar Health and director of the MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2). “We have been working with 1776 to activate the startup ecosystem to recruit the best ideas—going beyond smartphone applications and patient portals—that will shape the future of health.”
MedStar Health is the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, with 10 hospitals and more than 300 other care sites. MI2, its innovation team, is dedicated to advancing health by catalyzing innovation from within the system as well as serving as a portal for innovative ideas that originate outside the traditional healthcare setting.
“In a world where technology is changing every industry and making physical location less important, MedStar is leading the way to collaborate with startups that are solving these problems,” 1776 CEO Evan Burfield said. “As one of 1776’s founding partners, MedStar has been integral in supporting the startups that are building solutions for the health industry.”
Beyond scouting for new technologies, MedStar will work closely with the winning startups over the course of six months, providing access to the system’s resources, mentors and physicians. Cohort participants will also be able to test their products in real time with MedStar stakeholders. The goal of this effort is to develop pilot projects with successful adoptions.
This cohort will also complement MedStar’s continued collaboration with 1776 to support the Health for America (HFA) at MedStar Health fellowship, an 11-month program that challenges recent college graduates to create a novel solution that improves care in an assigned health domain. MedStar collaborates with 1776 to provide HFA fellows with educational, business, and investment opportunities, as well as mentorship and workspace.
More information about the challenge, including the related application, will be available on the 1776 website in April 2017. The competition will take place at the end of June 2017, and the MedStar innovation lab cohort will kick off in September 2017.
About 1776
1776 is a public benefit corporation that empowers startup ecosystems around the world to solve complex challenges. To accomplish this, we leverage our digital startup network, UNION; physical campuses in Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco and Dubai; a global startup pitch competition, Challenge Cup; and deep staff expertise in regulatory issues. We accelerate connections and outcomes among startups, corporations and public institutions. For more information, please visit www.1776.vc and follow @1776 on Twitter and @1776vc on Instagram.
About MedStar Health
MedStar Health is a not-for-profit health system dedicated to caring for people in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, while advancing the practice of medicine through education, innovation and research. MedStar’s 30,000 associates, 6,000 affiliated physicians, 10 hospitals, ambulatory care and urgent care centers, and the MedStar Health Research Institute are recognized regionally and nationally for excellence in medical care. As the medical education and clinical partner of Georgetown University, MedStar trains more than 1,100 medical residents annually. MedStar Health’s patient-first philosophy combines care, compassion and clinical excellence with an emphasis on customer service. For more information, visit MedStarHealth.org.