Pittsburgh Primed to Step onto the Global Digital Health Stage
By Megan Shaw and Stephen Hunter
Digital health — we hear it in the news all the time, but what it is and how does Pittsburgh stack up?
Apple’s heart rhythm tracking via the apple watch, online check-ins with your clinician, and symptom-tracking tools on your phone are just a few examples of this increasingly ubiquitous intersection of healthcare and technology.
Everywhere you look more health tasks are being integrated into digital tools. But for a long time, the hype exceeded the reality in digital health. Today, that is changing, and Pittsburgh is at the forefront of new tools that help clinicians diagnose and treat patients better and faster. To stay relevant, Pittsburgh needs to double down on its assets to make sure it does not miss this moment to shine.
There is no consensus definition for Digital Health, but generally, the FDA’s description that “Digital health technologies [that] use computing platforms, connectivity, software, and sensors for health care and related uses” is a helpful start.
Health care presents unique challenges for digital solution development
While the premise seems simple, the actual development of digital health tools that interact with patient data is much harder. Many such tools are premised on the idea of using AI to more rapidly and efficiently diagnose patients and communicate results to clinicians. There are several challenges here that aren’t always obvious:
First, you need large data sets on which to train AI algorithms. Ideally, you have both inputs (e.g. test results, images, biopsy results) and outcomes (diagnosis code, hospital stay duration, etc.) Gaining access to this patient data appropriately requires jumping through a lot of hoops, from patient privacy to cyber security.
Second, even if a company develops a revolutionary new tool, communicating results to clinicians can be a challenge. Clinicians are overwhelmed with information coming at them from all directions.
While companies often want to create their own platform for communicating with clinicians, this faces adoption hurdles at both the system level — does it meet cybersecurity and HIPAA requirements? As well as at the clinician adoption level — what clinicians wants one more set of log-ins to check one more database? Therefore, integration with an Electronic Health Record is often required for adoption, but this in itself is a complicated, costly and lengthy endeavor.
Finally, regulatory oversight for digital health is actively evolving. The FDA now has a regulatory class of Software as a Medical Device. As one can imagine, this opens a complicated can of worms when determining whether a digital health tool is subject to regulatory oversight. Many companies seek to avoid FDA clearance by sticking with a wellness definition and not claiming to diagnose. This makes it easier for companies to get to market, but limits the claims they can make and, generally, means insurance will not pay.
Pittsburgh’s core strengths help homegrown companies overcome these barriers.
So how can startups navigate this complex landscape to bring cutting edge tools to the patient?
Fortunately, Pittsburgh has several key assets that help here:
First, we have two large integrated delivery and finance networks, that are healthcare systems that include both the provider (i.e., hospital) and the payer (i.e., insurance company). Highmark / AHN and UPMC, both headquartered in Pittsburgh, offer access to large datasets covering millions of patients. Both have active programs to work with startups, including AlphaLab Health, Highmark Ventures and UPMC Enterprises.
Second, the region is thinking creatively about how to leverage data via Pittsburgh’s Health Data Alliance. This organization is a partnership of Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, and UPMC specifically designed to share data and help innovators access healthcare data to more rapidly develop tools.
Third, the technical talent in Pittsburgh is world-class. Carnegie Mellon is ranked number one in the US in a variety of areas, including computer science, artificial intelligence, software engineering. The University of Pittsburgh’s graduate programs are nationally known in medicine, including primary care, biomedical engineering, and public health. This focus on Pittsburgh’s tech talent is highlighted by the presence of major technology companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google that all have offices here.
We’ve seen this combination of assets come together to form exciting digital health companies. Our AlphaLab Health accelerator has been fortunate to host a number of promising starutps, such as:
- Telling.AI is using voice to monitor lung function from your phone. Their team includes strong technical talent from CMU, and they’ve piloted the tool at AHN.
- Naima Health pairs the Head of Maternal Fetal medicine at UPMC with social scientists from Pitt and AI experts from CMU to identify risk factors for pregnant patients and enable interventions. They’ve piloted with thousands of patients at UPMC.
- SpIntellx translates cutting-edge in special analytics and computational AI research from Pitt into a precision pathology SaaS company.
- SovaSage, formed by a CMU professor with entrepreneurial experience, uses your camera phone to help fit sleep apnea masks. They’ve partnered with both AHN and UPMC to test their product and are working with providers across the country.
- Noctem Health, based on insights from a renowned sleep expert at the University of Pittsburgh, enables clinicians to scale the sleep therapy they provide to vastly more patients.
All of these companies include smart, well-trained engineers thinking creatively about specific clinical issues that digital tools, including AI, can help to address. They’ve all collaborated with our world-class healthcare systems to prototype, test, refine, and pilot or launch their tools.
Pittsburgh’s strengths position it at the nexus of digital health technologies that leverage AI, putting it on the global map alongside powerhouses like Israel and New York City. With world-class technical talent and AI education, two large integrated and delivery networks, and a particular focus on innovating in healthcare, Pittsburgh is positioned as a global leader in digital health.
However, this is a competitive space and other cities are vying to be the “hub” of digital Health. Local and state organizations have an opportunity to come together to highlight and support Pittsburgh’s unique role in the digital health ecosystem by exploring ways to “brand” Pittsburgh as a digital health hub and continuing to expand our support for digital health companies as they journey down the complicated path of bringing novel technologies to market.
Megan Shaw is the Managing Director of Life Sciences at Innovation Works, an active seed-stage investor in Southwest PA. She leads the AlphaLab Health Accelerator, a partnership between Innovation Works and Allegheny Health Network to accelerate the time to market for healthcare startups. Via the accelerator and Board positions in digital health startups, she is participating first-hand in the digital health revolution. Previously, Megan was VP of Marketing and Business Development at HemoSonics, a point-of-care diagnostic company, and worked on the NIH’s RADx initiative to rapidly bring to market SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.
Stephen Hunter is the Vice President of Innovation and Incubator Operations for Allegheny Health Network. He leads the Allegheny Health Network efforts for AlphaLab Health. Previously his focus has been on developing and bringing Highmark Health’s long-term strategic vision to life including AHN’s $1.3B growth platform in western Pennsylvania in Oncology, Wexford hospital, as well as clinical mergers and acquisitions. Prior to his time with Highmark he worked in management consulting for Deloitte.
