Where Are They Now? Catching Up with a Few HealthTech Accelerator Participants
Last year, Full Media served as a mentor in CO.LAB’s first HealthTech Accelerator, offering marketing consulting and advice for a variety of startups in the healthtech industry. We had the pleasure of meeting some excellent entrepreneurs driving change in healthcare — and we wanted to catch up to see what’s happened since they completed the program.
Take a moment to check out our Q&As with leaders from Rhinogram, Canopy Innovations, Inc., and KelCor, each of whom participated in the 2019 HealthTech Accelerator.
Kathy D. Ford, President and Chief Product Officer at Rhinogram
Q: Can you tell us a little about your business?
A: Rhinogram is a patient engagement platform that enables providers and their staff to deliver care virtually where the patient lives while being HIPA
A-compliant. Patients do not have to download any apps or learn anything new — they simply get to text their doctor’s office. Images and documents can be shared along with addressing easy administrative questions that normally would be handled by many phone calls and voicemails.
Q: What was/were your biggest takeaway(s) from the HealthTech Accelerator? How has that influenced your work since you completed the program?
A: The biggest takeaway from the Accelerator was learning that so many interesting innovations started out of Chattanooga and the need the healthcare community has for access to early innovations.
We are grateful for the connection to the Erlanger team and are looking forward to continuing our dialogue around collaboration opportunities.
Q: Can you tell us a little about what’s in store for your business and/or what you’re most excited about in 2020?
A: 2020 will be a hallmark year for Rhinogram. We are expecting to triple our revenues this year as we continue to penetrate more of the medical market.
Rhinogram will attend more than 20 tradeshows and will continue to be highlighted as a top innovation for this decade by several industry-leading digital publications. We have a healthy lead on feature innovation from our competitors and intend to keep building out the platform to allow every single patient the convenience of texting to stay engaged in their health.
Bill Tan, Founder at Canopy Innovations, Inc.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your business?
A: Our mission is to eliminate language barriers in healthcare and to empower providers to serve patients who have limited-English proficiency. We offer a full range of teachnology-enabled solutions, including Canopy Learn, which is the leading medical Spanish training platform for nurses, physicians, and other providers, and Canopy Speak, which provides instantaneous access to the largest collection of frequently used medical phrases in 15 languages.
Q: What was/were your biggest takeaway(s) from the HealthTech Accelerator? How has that influenced your work since you completed the program? 
A: We participated in the Accelerator program to learn more about the healthcare industry in Tennessee and to collaborate with market leaders such as Erlanger. During the program, we were able to meet many like-minded individuals and elevate language access to the executive level of attention. We were very impressed to see the level of excitement and engagement with local organizations about innovative ways to promote healthcare equity and accessibility.
The Accelerator was instrumental in our market discovery process, and we have subsequently set up an office in Tennessee to expand our local presence.
Q: Can you tell us a little about what’s in store for your business and/or what you’re most excited about in 2020?
A: We have several significant new developments for 2020 – 2021. The first is that we are launching an innovative new product to help hospitals optimize their usage of interpreters and other multilingual resources and seek reimbursement opportunities for their investment in language services.
Secondly, we will be expanding our medical language training platform beyond Spanish to cover the most commonly encountered languages.
Finally, in response to our clients’ desires to enhance their compliance with Affordable Care Act Section 1557 requirements, we are working on a solution for assessing the proficiency level of bilingual staff. This tool will also provide enhanced support to the workforce to continue to develop their multilingual fluency.
All of these innovative products will be brought to market through our Canopy360 platform, which will provide the most comprehensive capabilities for managers who oversee diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as those in charge of language access operations.
Cory Allison and Kelly Good, CRNA, Co-Founders of KelCor, LLC
Q: Can you tell us a little about your business?
A: KelCor is working to solve the problem of current taping practices in the sterile operating room environment. It’s well-documented in medical literature — rolls of tape are an identified contributor to disease transmission and postoperative healthcare-acquired infections. 
We have developed a single-use taping solution that borrows on current clinical practice for securing the airway and closing the eyes in an unconscious patient that is both efficient and clean. As such, it’s practical and essential for practitioners in the operating room but also appropriate for emergency room clinicians and rescue personnel.
Q: What was/were your biggest takeaway(s) from the HealthTech Accelerator? How has that influenced your work since you completed the program?
A: From Kelly’s perspective, as a practicing CRNA with no business and startup experience, the HealthTech Accelerator was incredibly informative
We also made wonderful connections and established friendships with our cohort of participants. And lastly, as a company in its infancy during the program, our product concept evolved with the feedback we received and was continuously validated as we gained exposure.
Q: Can you tell us a little about what’s in store for your business and/or what you’re most excited about in 2020?
A: After discovering and partnering with a stateside manufacturer last summer, we produced the first prototype of our airway securing kit.
By the end of 2019, we had completed proof of concept testing in the clinical environment with the product. Evaluations by clinicians overall enthusiastically affirmed the need for this product—and provided insightful clinical feedback on product design and application.
Since the start of 2020, we have incorporated clinician feedback from the trial into our design and have tested a modified second generation version. This new design has been positively received, and we have plans to broaden market reach this spring with the hope of sales by the end of the summer.
Each step of the way, as the product gains more exposure and awareness, we continue to be humbled by the support we are receiving and the offers for help in pushing this product to the marketplace.
At Full Media, we love being involved in the communities we serve. Stay tuned for more information about this year’s HealthTech Accelerator cohort as we partner with CO.LAB again in 2020.
