MATTER Shoutouts: July 6, 2018

Every day, innovators across the MATTER community are building new solutions that accelerate innovation, advance care and improve lives. Here’s a look into the most noteworthy happenings from the past few weeks.

Regroup is blazing the trail for telepsychiatry — to the tune of $5.5 million.
Virtual behavioral healthcare leader Regroup just closed a $5.5 million round to further expand their team and reach. The company hopes to eliminate the mental health service availability gap in the United States by making virtual psychiatry accessible to the people and communities who need it most.

This raise is part of a larger surge in venture capital funding for mental health startups. Read this article for the breakdown and see Regroup’s press release here.

PhotoniCare struck SBIR gold with the NIH.
PhotoniCare received a $2.1 million award from the National Institute of Health’s Phase IIb Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The medical device company has developed the first non-invasive method for accurately diagnosing middle ear infections with the use of their hand-held ClearView technology. The award will help PhotoniCare expand their research to multi-site clinical trials to further propel their device through the commercialization process. Read on.

Attune Medical is warming up the stage for innovation.
The Food and Drug Administration presented Attune Medical with 510(k) clearance for two new models of its EnsoETM temperature management device. The device will help prevent hypothermia in patients with complex cases.

EnsoETM is the only product on market cleared for the management of whole-body temperature via the esophageal environment. Learn more.

BiomeSense studies the small stuff, but their effect is far from it.
The University of Chicago Innovation Fund announced plans to invest up to $250,000 in microbiome-based medical device startup, BiomeSense. The investment will support the development of a fully-automated biosensor, designed for low-cost, scalable microbiome testing. View the full article and watch the 7-minute PBS feature on co-founder Jack Gilbert.

Prepared Health is keen on collaboration.
Prepared Health, a digital health network company, has partnered with Homewatch Caregivers to help healthcare providers track the wellbeing of their patients after discharge. Prepared Health is also expanding their agreement with Centegra Health System. They’ll help the health system manage all discharges, as well as the Medicaid population. Astrid Larsen, director of care coordination at Centegra Health System, commented:
“We’ve seen such tremendous success over the last 18 months using enTouch for our complex case management. Expanding access to all of our care managers and our preferred post-acute network will help us gain efficiencies, lower costs and increase quality of care for our patients.”
Read more.

TAFi is reaching new heights with their newly available platform.
TAFi, a leading provider of clinical data integration capabilities, announced the general availability of their powerful IT platform designed to improve healthcare data interoperability. The startup’s nontraditional platform aggregates, normalizes and secures raw data from multiple sources, connecting directly to thousands of patient electronic medical records, for quick, easy and cost-effective data interoperability. See the press release.