Hackovate Health Finale Recap

After surviving the snowpocalypse of 2013, entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and supporters gathered in the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Board Room at Union Station for the Hackovate Health Finale on February 28, 2013. 

The event opened with a welcome address from Tyler Prochnow of Think Big Partners and Paul Richardson of H&R Block.  After a few words, Master of Ceremonies Ramsey Mohsen took the stage to get the pitches started. 

Group 1 featured finalists My Healthcare Reform Guide by Useagility & eXperient Interactive, ReMARK Health, HealthPlan Select by Strenuus, OKCopay Inc. and NAYA JEEVAN REJUVENATE.  Once all finalists finished their 10-minute pitches and question-and-answer sessions with the judges, a video address from Senator Jerry Moran was played followed by a short “chocolate break” courtesy of Hovey Williams, LLP. 

After the break, Herb Sih of Think Big Partners took the stage where he spoke on innovation and entrepreneurship.  Next, Group 2, consisting of SHHADE, eLuminate Health, Aavya Health, GetHealth, and inAssist Health Management Solutions, gave presentations and answered Q&A. 

Next on the Hackovate agenda, Kush Saxena of H&R Block took the stage to welcome Ned Holland, keynote speaker and assistant secretary for administration for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  At the same time, voting for the Google Fiber People’s Choice Award opened and the votes flooded in (over 500 were calculated in the short 30-minute voting time frame).  Additionally, Herb Sih of Think Big Partners got back on stage to speak about Think Big’s newest (and perhaps most unique) innovation yet: Smart Coffee, the coffee made for entrepreneurs and innovators. 

Next, Phyllis Faulkner-Johnson took the stage to announce the winner of the Google Fiber People’s Choice Award followed by Paul Richardson to announce each of the three cash prize winners. 

To learn more about each of the Hackovate winners, please read below:

GRAND PRIZE WINNER ($15,000)

Tami Hutchison, eLuminate Health

eLuminate Health, based out of Kansas City, Missouri, is a new marketplace for bringing together buyers and sellers of healthcare procedures based on transparency of price, quality and customer satisfaction.  The startup’s open network, reverse pricing platform replaces the current network contracting process between carriers and providers for imaging and surgical procedures.  Health plan payers and members rely on eLuminate Health to improve the value of their healthcare investments. eLuminate’s automated payment process, enabled by pre-established fixed prices, enables healthcare providers to eliminate the current cumbersome claims and accounts receivable management process and guarantees payment within less than 10 days on 100% of both the payer and member portion.

RUNNER-UP ($5,000)

Liam Ryan, GetHealth

The GetHealth mobile app, based out of Dublin, Ireland, is a mobile and online platform that helps people improve their health through social interaction and gameplay with peer-to-peer connections. The app’s beta users describe the company as “Foursquare for Health”, allowing people to check-in to the healthy tasks they do each day (in the categories of Move, Munch and Mind), earn points and motivate their friends to a better healthy lifestyle. 

SECOND RUNNER-UP ($2,500)

Scott Speranza, InAssist Health Management Solutions

InAssist, a startup based out of Torrance, California, specializes in medical protection services for employers, employees and consumers and solves for the problem of hospital overcharges and administrative costs as well as the risks inherent to the medical industry.  With an integrated portal, consumers can log-in to the InAssist system to talk to trained certified claims analysts to better understand what they are getting charged for and gain access to bills, EOB’s medical records, claim denials and total yearly costs.

GOOGLE FIBER PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

Karan Srivastava, SHHADE

SHHADE, based out of Miami, Florida, stands for Supply Home Health Care Alternatives and Dedicated Education.   SHHADE negotiates contracts with insurance companies to reduce expenses caused by patients who frequently visit the ER for chronic, yet manageable medical conditions. SHHADE provides comprehensive primary care services directly at the patient’s home and regularly follows up with patients to better manage the patient’s health. SHHADE case managers are designated to help the patient address and remove any social or cultural obstacles that impede the patient’s goal for a healthy lifestyle. SHHADE identifies which treatments are cost-effective in producing high quality health benefits. Ultimately, SHHADE aims to reduce the burden of costs insurance companies incur by reducing the number of ER visits from high utilizing patients.

The Finale event concluded with applause and cocktails, appetizers and networking in the Sprint Festival Plaza just a few steps from where Hackovate took place.  Media conducted interviews with the winners, each winner sat down to speak about their experience on the Think Big Innovations podcast, and cheers, laughs and new introductions were made by all.

All in all, Hackovate Health opened the eyes of the healthcare and medical industries to the new, innovative products that are being brought to the market.  The innovation competition truly spoke to those companies and startups who were striving to help consumers understand and navigate the challenging healthcare landscape and realize new health benefits.   

Want to see the Finale for yourself?  Check out a recording of the entire Hackovate Health Finale here, courtesy of DEG. 

Think Big and H&R Block Announce Winners of Hackovate Health Innovation Competition

The global health care focused innovation competition Hackovate Health came to a close when it announced four winning business ideas at the Finale event at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.  Organized by H&R Block and Think Big Partners, the Hackovate Health Finale brought together innovators, entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals and industry leaders for a half-day pitch fest and awards ceremony.

Ten finalists, four judges and many community leaders, supporters and attendees joined to see innovation and entrepreneurism in action.  At the event, a panel of four Finale judges determined the grand prize winner ($15,000), the runner-up ($5,000) and the second runner-up ($2,500).  Finale judges included Kush Saxena (H&R Block), David Edwards (Cerner), Phyllis Faulkner-Johnson (Google Fiber) and Anna Haghgooie (Sandbox). In addition, attendees had the chance to watch 10 pitches from finalists and vote for their favorite via mobile platform for the Google Fiber People’s Choice Award. 

Tami Hutchinson and her team at eLuminate Health (Kansas City, MO) was announced the winner of the $15,000 grand prize.  eLuminate Health is an online platform where surgeons and patients can easily find one another and compare procedures based on price and quality ratings.  The eLuminate Health platform predicts to save up to 17% on procedures and 5% per year on healthcare costs.  The company solves problems for consumers, payers, administrators and providers while improving healthcare quality and decreasing costs.    In addition to the cash prize, eLuminate Health has been recognized as one of the top startups in the healthcare tech industry.

“We truly appreciated this entire process,” said Tami Hutchison of eLuminate Health.  “Hackovate has helped us think in new ways and we will use this opportunity to get our product into the market and bring value to consumers in the U.S.” 

Karan Srivastava and his team of SHHADE (Miami, FL) was declared the winner of the Google Fiber People’s Choice Award after receiving a majority of the public vote.  SHHADE stands for Supply Home Health Care Alternatives and Dedicated Education.  The SHHADE platform allows for remote patient monitoring, health coaching, care coordination and mobile primary care services.  As the winner of the Google Fiber People’s Choice Award, SHHADE will gain bragging rights and media exposure. 

Liam Ryan of GetHealth (Dublin, Ireland) was announced as the Hackovate first runner-up, receiving a $5,000 cash prize from H&R Block.  The GetHealth mobile app is “Foursquare for health” as it improves consumer health by “checking in” to different healthy activities.  The app incorporates “motifications”, notifications to help consumers improve their health.  GetHealth has already been named an effective WaaS (wellness as a service).

“As a company with a base in New York and Ireland, we are always looking for opportunities to showcase in the United States on a global scale.  Hackovate allowed us to not only do that, but to think big too,” said Liam Ryan of GetHealth. 

In addition, Scott Speranza of InAssist Health Management Solution (Torrance, CA) was announced as the second runner-up and received a $2,500 prize courtesy of H&R Block.  InAssist specializes in medical protection services and solves for the problem of hospital overcharges.  With an integrated portal, consumers can log in to the InAssist system to pay medical bills and better understand what they are getting charged for.  InAssist incorporates TotalCare, which allows for a proprietary method for carriers and doctors. 

In addition to celebrating the announcement of the Hackovate winners, attendees were invited to listen to keynote speakers Ned Holland of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“We are thrilled with the results of the Hackovate Health Finale,” said Herb Sih, co-founder of Think Big Partners.  “Today, we saw a wide range of innovations and ideas that are helping to change the way we think about healthcare.  We hope that attendees, finalists, sponsors, judges and supporters learned something new about the changing healthcare landscape and believe in the innovations that are helping to solve real problems.”