One of the toughest hurdles for health IT start-ups is getting in front of customers. Doctors are reluctant to pay, and sales cycles at hospitals can take months. Entrepreneurs often inspired by a negative personal experience, and moved to fix the problem, find later that their product doesn’t fit the hospital’s “workflow,” or offers no incentive for doctors to adopt it.
The New York Digital Health Accelerator helps health IT entrepreneurs address those issues. Today, it announced its inaugural class of 8 start-ups, winnowed down from 250 applicants. They were selected not only by investors, but also by 22 New York-based hospitals and clinics, including Maimonides Medical Center, Continuum Health Partners, and Adirondack Health Institute. Those health care providers have also hand-picked the start-ups they want to work with to test their product.