Six Offerings from the 2015 Louisville Innovation Summit

Louisville, Kentucky is the aging-industry capital of the United States. The city is a very big player in long-term care, host to a variety of "headquarters in nursing home, rehabilitation, assisted living and home health administration." Last week the city (and a variety of its long-term care industry sponsors) ran an industry summit that included two days of sessions and a bevy of live pitches. It is striking to contemplate the simultaneous growing blur and yet near-complete disconnect between health-related innovations involving doctors and the world of aging care. There has long been a need for disruptive innovation in the long-term care industry -- which, like the health care industry overall, struggles with lower reimbursements, which in turn have resulted in further industry consolidation.

What are the drivers of innovation?  Was one of the speakers, StartUp Health founder Unity Stokes, correct in noting the 10 biggest drivers for future innovation in aging care?  Or, as the Louisville event finalist list suggests, is aging care (and related innovations) blending into health care delivery? Note that as next week's Partners Healthcare Connected Health Symposium in Boston approaches, it is (oddly) adjacent without topic overlap (except for one aging in place session) with the follow-ing week's LeadingAge event -- to be mulled over at a future date. Here are the finalists from Louisville, with Moving Analytics as the national winner. The text below is drawn from company websites or public information.

• Moving Analytics.  "Moving Analytics is a Marina del Rey, CA company that helps hospitals implement remote cardiac rehab programs delivered through patients' mobile devices. It was selected among 10 companies competing at the national level. Using the Moving Analytics platform, patients receive the benefits of cardiac rehab from the comfort of their homes, while hospitals increase patient enrollment, generate additional revenue and reduce readmission penalties." Also to demo at Connected Health Symposium. Learn more at Moving Analytics.

• Breath Diagnostics. "Louisville-based Breath Diagnostics, which has developed a patented technology that uses a patient’s breath to detect lung cancer, was selected among 5 Kentucky-based companies competing. Breath Diagnostics was founded by its principal inventors at the University of Louisville. The patented, licensed test distinguishes benign from malignant nodules in the lung. 20 percent of those 54 or older are in the high risk group." Too new to learn more.

• Edumedics. "The company pairs nurse practitioners with clients who have multiple chronic conditions at convenient locations like pharmacies and Silver Sneakers sites. The NPs use Edumedics’ proprietary platform, Healthward, to identify, document and then close gaps in their clients’ care. The cost to an insurer or Medicare provider would be around $100 to $120 per member per month for the service." Learn more at Edumedics.

• Medica Nexus: "Fragmented health records cost the country more than $300 billon in health care, lost wages, etc. Medica Nexus would gather all of the various records together and bring them onto one platform that integrates with hospital and insurance company platforms. The records would be owned and controlled by the consumer. This service would be free to hospitals and consumers, paid for by insurance companies that know it’s in their best interest to help minimize delays in health care because of missing, mismatched or misinterpreted medical records." Learn more at Medica Nexus.

• Psyche Comfort Products: "Have you ever had to paint a ceiling? Then you know the pain point (literally) that Psyche is trying to address. They’ve created an ergonomic neck guard that rests on your shoulders and clips to your pants like suspenders. It cushions your neck and the back of your head. The cost of making the product is around $20; they plan to sell it for $59.95. Ford and Boeing have already expressed interest for their mechanics." Learn more at Psyche Comfort Products.

• Thrive365. "This is an app for counting carbs for people with diabetes or pre-diabetes. In the app, you’re given a personalized score for every meal and snack. More than 400,000 food items have been given point values. You enter what you eat and make sure you stay at or around the score for each meal. Diabetes management is all about consistency and avoiding spikes and drops in blood sugar. This app helps manage that consistency." Learn more at Thrive365.