Hospital-Led Innovation Efforts Produce Results

Hospitals and health systems continue to make progress on their innovation ventures.

Navv Systems Inc., born out of Henry Ford Health System, will use the injection of a $3.2 million venture capital seed round to bolster its pipeline of health care systems focused on better tracking of equipment and personnel, as well as helping patients and visitors better navigate complex facilities.

Navv Systems' technology, licensed to the company in 2019, first was conceived through Henry Ford Innovations, the development and commercialization arm of the Detroit-based health care system. The technology is used at all six of Henry Ford's hospitals and is deployed for patient transport, housekeeping and central pharmacy deliveries.

Meanwhile, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center recently spun off Realyze Intelligence, an artificial-intelligence (AI) company that analyzes electronic health records (EHRs). The startup’s tools use natural language processing and other types of AI to analyze clinical notes and data held in EHRs, from which it can identify patients with cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and other chronic conditions who are at high risk for poor health outcomes.

Clinicians will apply the findings to prioritize high-risk patients.