HealthTech healthcare accelerator to launch on Aug. 6

by Roby Brock ([email protected]) 597 views 

A consortium of Arkansas healthcare organizations from central and Northwest Arkansas will work with five startups in this year’s cohort of the HealthTech Arkansas accelerator program.

The five startups will be announced on Aug. 6 at a 5:30 p.m. event at Arkansas Heart Hospital in Little Rock.

The five companies, which were selected from hundreds of applicants worldwide, will be in Little Rock for three days to meet mentors and hospital management teams and to begin planning the pilot projects to be conducted with their provider partners.

Additionally, the 2019 cohort companies will meet with HealthTech Arkansas investors and with companies in last year’s cohort, as this year’s kickoff events are also serving as a “reunion” for the 2018 cohort.

Supporters of HealthTech Arkansas include Arkansas Heart Hospital, Arkansas Children’s, Arkansas Urology, Baptist Health, CHI St. Vincent, Conway Regional, Mercy, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and Washington Regional Medical Center.

“We are excited to reveal the new cohort and introduce them to Arkansas and the powerful teams available to them at all of our healthcare provider partners around the state,” said Jeff Stinson, director of HealthTech Arkansas. Stinson is also the executive director of the Fund for Arkansas’ Future, which is the state’s largest angel investment fund.

The cohort will participate in a program that provides them the opportunity to build solutions specifically identified by the participating healthcare organizations.

Each company will receive seed investment as well as complete and total access to clinicians and administrators while executing their pilot projects.

HealthTech Arkansas is a new and expanded iteration of two previous accelerator programs, Health InnovatAR and HubX—LifeSciences. This year, there are more provider partners and increased investment for participating companies. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission awarded HealthTech Arkansas $250,000 for the healthcare accelerator through a program designed to increase acceleration activities in targeted industries in the state.

More information can be found at HealthTechArkansas.com.