A new innovation program out of northwest Arkansas has plans to directly connect startups with local health care organizations in need of technical solutions.
HealthCatalyst NWA, led by HTA of Fayetteville and NXTUS Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, received a $500,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to fund pilot programs between startups and local health partners.
Program organizers have been working with community health organizations to identify pilot issues for the accelerator, focusing on four areas: public health and health equity, mental and behavioral health, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability.
Specific challenges range from managing chronic diseases to improving maternal health and expanding access to underserved populations.
HTA will recruit “high-impact” startup applicants, conducting an initial screening before introducing potential matches to health partners. Those partners will then evaluate the startups and select which companies they want to conduct a pilot with.
“The community partners are actually the ones that will select the cohort because it’s based on who we have commitments between,” HTA Director of Operations Haley McCarver said.
Jeff Stinson, director of HTA, said pilots need to be executed “without a lot of risk.” Participating startups must have a minimum viable product, though they can be pre-revenue.
And the selected startups don’t have to be based in Arkansas, but each must place at least one person in northwest Arkansas for the duration of the pilot or hire someone locally, McCarver said.
“Part of this program is the economic vitality of northwest Arkansas,” McCarver said.
Stinson said the ideal startup would address one or more of the identified health challenges and show interest in establishing a long-term presence in the region.
HTA currently operates accelerator programs focused on cardiovascular innovations, facilitating clinical trials between companies and hospitals across the state and country.
Applications opened Jan. 1 and will remain open through mid-February. HTA plans to match startups with community partners in the spring, with the pilot projects launching over the summer.
Each selected startup will receive at least one funded pilot project with a community partner or health system in northwest Arkansas. Those include Arisa Health, the Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, Mercy, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Washington Regional, Our Blood Institute, Spring Creek Food Hub, Havenwood and Community Clinic.
McCarver said HTA is always looking for more health partners, so the cohort could grow as more come onboard.
Selected startups will participate in educational sessions about the region’s health care industry as well as personalized business advising.
The startups will also present at the HealthCatalyst Innovation Showcase and OnwardFX, offering access to mentorship and potential venture capital connections.
NXTUS runs a similar program in Kansas and is technically the primary applicant for the program’s grant funding. Funds will be distributed through NXTUS to the community partners, who will share the funds with their startup partners. Stinson said each pilot program will likely receive the same amount of funding from the $500,000 pool, aiming to boost both local organizations and the startups.
“What they most want is to do pilot projects with real customers,” Stinson said. “We’ve just put this program together in a way that drives the most impact and gives them actual pilots. And if pilots go well, then the goal is for those relationships to transition to long-term commercial contracts.”
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