AWS announces the 10 startups selected for the 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator focused on health equity

by Janai German, MPH

Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the selection of the 10 participants for the 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator focused on improving health equity. This year’s cohort brought forward innovative ideas that will improve access to care, provide actionable health equity data, expand access to medical transport, and help people without a home reach housing and health goals. The pandemic amplified longstanding healthcare disparities—impacting vulnerable populations the most and highlighting that there is much work to be done to advance health equity—and supporting this work is critical.

These 10 health equity-focused startups were selected from over 250 applications by a diverse panel of AWS subject matter experts, KidsX team members, AWS healthcare customers, health equity experts, and digital health investors. Applications were open to startups focused on increasing access to health services, addressing social determinants of health, or leveraging data to promote equitable and inclusive systems of care.

Meet the 10 finalists for the 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator:

    • Clinify Health, based in Chicago, is a value-based care enablement company that provides clinical decision support technology to help Medicaid-managed care and healthcare provider organizations care for vulnerable and low-income populations.
    • ClosedLoop.ai, based in Austin, is a healthcare data science platform leveraging an auto-machine learning engine with a healthcare content library to rapidly deliver accurate and explainable predictive models. These capabilities provide actionable information that promotes equitable and inclusive systems of care.
    • CognitiveCare, based in Milpitas, California, has created a solution using artificial intelligence and machine learning that quantifies maternal health risks to help triage pregnant mothers and infants, optimize care, plan resources, and increase access to improve disparate health outcomes during pregnancy.
    • Harmony Health, based in Pleasanton, California, provides an engagement platform to strengthen and optimize the intersections between sponsors and community-based organizations. Through this micro-engagement platform, they bring health equity to vulnerable, hard to reach, and diverse communities.
    • Kinetik, based in Long Island City, New York, provides products and API solutions to the healthcare transportation industry. They enable medical transport for all communities by connecting health plans, brokers, and providers to improve access to care for patients.
    • Pair Team, based in San Francisco, connects underserved communities to high quality care with their tech-enabled care teams. By partnering with safety-net primary care providers and acting as extensions of the clinical staff, they provide comprehensive clinical and mental health care while addressing social barriers.
    • Samaritan, based in Seattle, is a support platform that empowers people without a home to reach housing and health goals. Through their solution, they connect those without a physical home to healthcare and community supports.
    • SameSky Health, based in Los Angeles, uses analytics to identify disparities and barriers to care for diverse, underserved patient populations. They engage health plan members with personalized, culturally relevant experiences aimed at improving behaviors and connecting patients to the care they need.
    • Vincere Health, based in Boston, is a tech-enabled provider of smoking cessation and member engagement services for vulnerable, low income populations. Through value-based care, they seek to deliver positive patient health actions and outcomes for their clients.
    • Zócalo Health, based in Seattle, is a virtual family medicine platform designed to connect Latino patients to primary care using culturally relevant services and community health workers to drive engagement and outcomes.

The selection committee judged applications on several factors, including innovation of the solution, product-market fit, team experience, and health equity impact. The selection team also worked to make sure the startups were representative of the communities that they aim to serve; 90% of the cohort’s participants identify as founders in underrepresented populations.

The 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator program details

Over the course of the four-week program, these 10 startups will receive technical and business mentorship from AWS and KidsX experts, up to $25,000 in AWS Computing Credits, and collaboration opportunities with AWS healthcare customers, industry leaders, and members of AWS Partner Network (APN) looking for healthcare solutions.

The program begins with an individual deep-dive assessment of each startup. Startups will then be immersed in a custom-designed curriculum with hands-on technical training and a cloud architecture review. Through the Accelerator, startups will experiment with AWS technologies and accelerate their growth with foundational knowledge of cloud architecture, operations, and data. Startups will also have the benefit of collaboration with many AWS healthcare customers and partners such as Andreessen Horowitz, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Mass General Brigham, Philips, Rock Health, and ScaleHealth. The cohort will also have access to experts from Booz Allen Hamilton, Change Healthcare, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, GE Healthcare, Hope Chicago, and Intersystems, who will provide valuable industry expertise and insights. The culmination of the program will be the 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator Demo Day, where startups will showcase their technology in-person at HLTH at the AWS Healthcare Accelerator Pavilion. Register here to attend or receive virtual access post-event.

“Health inequities are a major issue across the globe, and addressing these disparities is a complex challenge no one organization can solve alone,” said Shakeeb Akhter, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “To remove geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic barriers to care and ensure data is collected and analyzed equitably, the healthcare industry must collaborate and apply technology and data in new ways. By working with the AWS Healthcare Accelerator, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia hopes to be a part of the solution.”

This new cohort is a continuation of previous AWS Healthcare Accelerators, such as the UK-based Healthcare Accelerator, which concluded in April 2022, and the first U.S.-based Healthcare Accelerator, which concluded in October 2021. Accelerators are one of several ways AWS is using the cloud to improve equitable access to healthcare. The Accelerator programs build on other efforts AWS has launched in this area, including the AWS Health Equity Initiative, a $40 million, three-year global commitment designed to support innovations in this space.

“Being part of the AWS Healthcare Accelerator UK cohort has been amazing for PEP Health and our mission to serve patients,” said Mark Lomax, chief executive officer (CEO) of PEP Health. “It has not only helped us in innovate through use of cloud, dramatically scaling our technology, but also improve our commercial plans and network in Europe and the U.S.”

Learn more about the 10 finalists 10 finalists for the 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator discover how AWS supports health customers and partners.

Read more about AWS for healthcare and health equity:

Janai German, MPH