3 Things: Example

1. Today in ‘Startups that could change healthcare forever.’  A 10-month-old company in San Francisco has invented a new way to create viable human organs nearly instantaneously.

Prellis Biologics co-founders Dr. Noelle Mullin (below, left) and Dr. Melanie Matheu (right) are creating human tissue and organs using 3D printing and stem cell biology. The company hopes to eliminate the wait list for human organ transplants and speed up development of vital new drug therapies.

From the Prellis press release: “Current methods for printing human tissue have hit a roadblock: the challenge of creating tiny blood vessels known as microvasculature. Without microvasculature, cells starve for oxygen and nutrients and can’t remove wastes. This has limited scientists to printing tissue no thicker than a dollar bill. By building scaffolding that includes microvascular structures, Prellis is solving this problem. These thicker tissues are the building blocks of functional organs.”

The young company has raised nearly $2 million in venture capital investment.

2. Virtually practicing. Medstar Health, in DC, is debuting a virtual reality-based training system for emergency physicians. From the article, “MedStar Health’s Institute for Innovation will unveil its ‘Trauma:Yellow’ virtual reality program next month at a conference for emergency doctors. The simulation was built by in-house video game developers at the institute’s Simulation Training and Education Lab.” For more on virtual reality applications in healthcare, see our interview with Eric Williams, co-creator of the Immersive Media Initiative.

3. Cost accountability is here. A timely article from H&HN last week covers the impact of total-cost-of-care measures, and suggests action steps to take now. CFOs in hospitals and physician groups have to be ready to think more like insurance companies, as payment methods change to value-based reimbursement.