Wisconsin’s Division of Long Term Care & Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services within the Department of Health (DHS) on May 2, 2014 issued a Request for Information (RFI). Today, DHS facilities span across seven locations with 4,000 potential end users, 8 to 10 statewide managed care organizations, along with 20-30 area hospitals and clinics with access to the EHR system and related data.
Today, each facility maintains health records on each individual, including information on physical, behavioral, and mental health issues, medications, individual medical and psychiatric assessments, and care plans. The records are maintained in several different systems primarily in paper based files but also in various electronic files, including a single site EHR system.
The specific objective is to support clients, patients, and resident long-term care services for individuals in need of behavioral health and acute and primary care. The goal is to collect critical patient care data across facilities, standardize common processes, increase efficiencies among staff, and create an EMR for each client. The state’s RFI seeks information on how to develop a comprehensive EHR system to meet the needs of healthcare delivery organizations in the state.
Go to http://publicnotices.wi.gov/NoticeView.asp?Inid=999919634 to view the RFI. The RFI is due May 29, 2014. For information, email DHSProcurement@wisconsin.gov.
In grant funding, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) awarded $140,000 in funding to Bridge to Cures Inc. (B2C) to establish a new seed fund. The matching grant will enable B2C a new nonprofit corporation, to provide seed money to entrepreneurs at academic institutions in southeastern Wisconsin that want to translate their medical research and inventions into products and companies in the healthcare field.
The Medical College of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Concordia University, the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering through the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, are all working with B2C as part of the initiative.
The grant will fund four healthcare startup companies annually through the B2C Health Care Innovation Fund. Two of the startups will focus on products such as pharmaceuticals or medical devices, and the other two startups will focus on clinical and diagnostic services.
In addition to the seed funding, the four companies will benefit from the strategy and experience of the three founders of B2C and from academic drug development scientists who collectively have helped to raise more than $150 million in venture capital and federal funding in the past.
B2C has formed an alliance with six academic institutions and the BloodCenter of Wisconsin building on more than $200 million in federal grant awards that these institutions receive annually for healthcare research. This alliance was formed through an inter-institutional drug discovery partnership created by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
Applications for the WEDC funding will be accepted later this year. The investment committee will choose the top proposals among those submitted and then these companies will be asked to submit a business plan. Throughout the selection process, the finalists will receive mentoring and training from B2C as they develop and refine their business plans.
In the final stage, top applications will take part in a Wisconsin Healthcare Innovator Pitch event, where they will present their ideas to the investment committee in a format that simulates a presentation to venture capital investors.
For more information, go to www.inwisconsin.com.