OSF Heads East to Explore Health Care Solutions

PEORIA, Ill., Dec. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OSF Innovation, a part of OSF HealthCare, is partnering with MassChallenge, a global early-stage startup accelerator headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that helps young companies succeed through monetary awards, mentorship from its various sponsors and more. OSF Innovation recently signed a one-year agreement to be a Platinum Sponsor of PULSE@MassChallenge, a program that specifically focuses on identifying and accelerating promising digital health startups.

As a partner, OSF has the opportunity to vet hundreds of startups and can choose up to two it will mentor to further develop their companies. This can include helping them connect with health care leaders, initiating pilots and introducing them to investment opportunities.

"We are looking for companies working on technology, products and services that will solve an OSF need," said Stan Lynall, Vice President of Venture Investments for OSF Ventures. "These include solutions for removing barriers to care for disadvantaged individuals, transforming how care is delivered to seniors and expanding access to care in ways we haven't tried before."

Beyond mentorship, companies selected to be part of the six-month long PULSE@MassChallenge program gain access to scholarships, tailored curriculum and more than 8,000 square feet of office space in Boston, the home of Harvard University and MIT. More than 500 startups applied to be part of this year's second PULSE cohort with about 90 matched to OSF HealthCare. The OSF Innovation Partnerships team will interview 10 companies, Tuesday, December 5 and choose up to two to work with soon after.

"We have a unique opportunity to expose these startups not only to our health care system, clinicians and subject matter experts, we also want them to visit and better understand our communities," said Matthew Warrens, Vice President of OSF Innovation Partnerships. "Many entrepreneurs of these companies are designing solutions for larger metropolitan areas that may not translate well into rural spaces."

In its first year, PULSE@MassChallenge startups addressed elder care, sports injuries, telemedicine, and more. The program this year is focused on challenges facing nutrition, caregiving, the opioid epidemic, genomics, rare diseases, cybersecurity and more.

"Both PULSE and OSF Innovation share in the belief that startups can dramatically improve health care and enhance the lives of patients around the world," said Nick Dougherty, Program Director, PULSE@MassChallenge. "We're excited to be partnering with their team in 2018 to help startups create widespread impact." 

OSF HealthCare, headquartered in Peoria, is owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, and consists of nearly 19,000 Mission Partners (employees) in 115 locations, including 11 hospitals throughout Illinois and Michigan. OSF Innovation, ranked among the top 10 innovation centers in the country, is located in Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center. Launched in 2016, OSF Innovation is a multidisciplinary innovation center focused on internal and external innovation of the largest health care challenges. More at www.osfinnovation.org and www.osfhealthcare.org.  

MassChallenge is the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, we are obsessed with helping entrepreneurs across any industry. We also reward the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards. Through our global network of accelerators in Boston, Texas, Israel, Mexico, Switzerland, and the U.K., and unrivaled access to our corporate partners, we can have a massive impact - driving growth and creating value the world over. To date, 1,211 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $2 billion in funding, generated more than $900 million in revenue, and created more than 65,000 direct and indirect jobs. For more information, please visit masschallenge.org.

Contact: Denise Molina-Weiger   309.308.9547   [email protected]

SOURCE OSF HealthCare

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