New York Digital Health Accelerator Celebrates Successful First Year

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) and the Partnership Fund for New York City (Partnership Fund), are proud to announce the achievements of two of its New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA) graduates, Avado and Cureatr, both leaders in the health IT communications software industry. Avado, a developer of cloud-based patient relationship management (PRM) tools and technologies has been acquired by WebMD, the leading source of health information. Cureatr, the nation's fastest growing mobile care coordination solution for healthcare providers has secured $5.7 million in Series A financing, which also includes participation from Milestone Venture Partners, a NYDHA venture investor, and the Partnership Fund.

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Both companies graduated from the NYDHA program in May. The inaugural class of eight companies has raised approximately $11.4 million in aggregate post-program, driving growth and significantly expanding their customer base.

The 9-month program provided each of the eight companies with high-caliber mentorships: Senior-level executives from 23 of New York State's leading healthcare organizations provided product development feedback. The companies also benefited from mentorship by world class investors and executives from the health insurance, pharma and health IT entrepreneurial sectors. In addition to providing product feedback, the participating healthcare providers facilitated 17 pilots at their organizations and created over 100 jobs. The NYDHA is currently planning to launch and announce the next class of the Accelerator in early 2014.

"We are thrilled with the success that both Avado and Cureatr have achieved through the New York Health Digital Accelerator," said David Whitlinger, Executive Director of NYeC. "These recent successes are a testament to the growth of health IT. We are so proud of the work they have accomplished in just one short year."

Avado is the second NYDHA pilot program to be acquired since graduating, after Remedy Systems which was acquired in May.

"New York City is quickly becoming a health IT hub, bringing with it good paying jobs to New York City," said Maria Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. "Startups like Avado and Cureatr have achieved remarkable success in a short period of time in part due to the innovative New York Digital Health Accelerator. We encourage the next round of companies to participate so we can further promote the growth of this burgeoning sector."

With an investment of $4.2 million, the NYDHA is the largest-funded healthcare IT accelerator program in the country, providing funding to eight growth-stage health tech companies developing cutting edge technology solutions in care coordination, patient engagement, analytics, and message alerts for healthcare providers.

Cureatr along with the NYDHA's other successes will be present at the upcoming New York eHealth Collaborative's (NYeC) Digital Health Conference taking place in New York City this November 14-15. More than 1,200 senior-level healthcare decision makers from across New York's robust health IT community will gather to showcase recent innovations and the most cutting edge technological developments in healthcare. To view a full conference schedule and to register visit www.digitalhealthconference.com.

About Cureatr
Cureatr is the nation's fastest growing mobile care coordination solution for healthcare providers. By combining HIPAA-secure text messaging with workflow navigation tools to enhance care-teams' efficacy at carrying out critical, often-repeated clinical workflows Cureatr makes it easier for doctors, nurses and others to provide high quality care to their patients. The solution is available as an Android, iPhone, and Web app. Led by a physician trained at Columbia, the former Director of Engineering of 23andMe, and the former head of sales at athenahealth, Cureatr focuses on making critical day-to-day tasks easier for all care-team members, while improving standardization and reporting for health system executives.

For more information, visit www.cureatr.com.

About the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA): The New York Digital Health Accelerator is a program run by the New York eHealth Collaborative and the Partnership Fund for New York City for early- and growth-stage digital health companies that are developing cutting edge technology products in care coordination, patient engagement, analytics and message alerts for healthcare providers. www.digitalhealthaccelerator.com & #NYDHA

About The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC): NYeC is a not-for-profit organization, working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare for all New Yorkers through health information technology (health IT). Founded in 2006 by healthcare leaders, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the State of New York. NYeC works to develop policies and standards, to assist healthcare providers in making the shift to electronic health records, and to coordinate the creation of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), a network to connect healthcare providers statewide. www.nyehealth.org & @NYeHealth

About the Partnership Fund for New York City (Partnership Fund): The Partnership Fund for New York City (http://fund.pfnyc.org) – formerly the New York City Investment Fund – is the vision of Henry R. Kravis, founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., who serves as its Founding Chairman. The Fund has raised over $110 million to mobilize the city's world financial and business leaders to help build a stronger and more diversified local economy. It has built a network of top experts from the investment and corporate communities who help identify and support New York City's most promising entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. The Fund is governed by a Board of Directors co-chaired by Richard M. Cashin, Managing Partner of One Equity Partners; and Chip Kaye, Co-President, Warburg Pincus LLC. The Fund is the economic development arm of the Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org), an organization of the leaders of New York City's top corporate, investment, and entrepreneurial firms. They work in partnership with city and state government officials, labor groups, and the nonprofit sector to promote the interest of the city and its neighborhoods. The Partnership carries out research, policy formulation, and issue advocacy at the city, state, and federal levels, leveraging the resources and expertise of its CEO and Corporate partners.

SOURCE The New York eHealth Collaborative