Innovation Challenge
Vizient is accepting applications from healthcare startup companies interested in competing in its sixth annual Innovation Challenge, which will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, Oct. 3 as part of the 2018 Vizient Connections Summit. Applications are due by 5 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 6, 2018. The companies should be revenue-producing but still in the early growth stage. Categories are virtual care/remote monitoring and care coordination/communications. The competition calls for two contestants to go head-to-head in the virtual/remote care and communication/care coordination domains, respectively. Each contestant will deliver an eight-minute product pitch then participate in a five-minute question-and-answer session from an expert panel, which includes an executive from two of Vizient's member hospitals, a venture capitalist investor and the CEO of Vizient. For more details, send an email to [email protected] or call 704-377-7114.

Early-stage companies get a boost
Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC and the University of Pennsylvania signed an agreement to identify and accelerate the development of early-stage healthcare solutions from the Philadelphia region's life science ecosystem that address significant unmet patient and consumer needs in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, consumer and health technologies. The venture will also support innovators with training, mentoring and networking programs. The Philadelphia venture is Johnson & Johnson Innovation's first such venture in the United States, but the company launched one last year in Alberta, Canada, in collaboration with the University of Alberta.

Stark Law to morph?
The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee held a hearing July 17 on modernizing the Stark Law to facilitate value-based care, reports the American Hospital Association. Enacted in 1989, the law generally prohibits physicians from referring certain Medicare patients to an entity in which they or an immediate family member have a financial interest. In a healthcare system moving to value-based payments, the law “may unduly limit ways that physicians and healthcare providers can coordinate patient care,” Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan was quoted as telling the subcommittee. In a statement submitted to the subcommittee, AHA urged Congress to remove the compensation provisions under Stark, which "do not support a value-based system," and create a safe harbor under the Anti-Kickback Statute for clinical integration arrangements.

AI attracts investors

Artificial intelligence could be the next big market in medical technology to attract investors, reports Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry Case in point: Viz.ai raised about $21 million in July in a series A round. The company has a process that analyzes CT results to notify providers of a potential stroke in their patients.

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