The Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech, the state's official technology startup incubator, has announced it will launch a new program dedicated to tech in the health industry with the help of NASCO, a health IT productions and services provider headquartered in Atlanta.
NASCO is donating money to help launch the ATDC Health Technology (HealthTech) Program in July, which will support more than 40 current and future health tech startups at the incubator.
Several initiatives these startups are hoping to tackle include population health, caregiver support, billing fraud, precision medicine, genomics, medical devices, diagnostics, data analytics, and process improvements in drug research. In addition to funding these startups, NASCO's gift will assist in commercialization workshops, hackathons and hosting industry leaders' mentorship.
"The health tech companies (in ATDC) have specific needs that the new program will address," ATDC Interim Director Jane McCracken said. "It’s an ever-changing landscape that recently has been introduced to new things like (the Affordable Care Act). It’s highly regulated. There are all kinds of issues as it crosses a wide variety of technology, whether that’s AI, cybersecurity, patient engagement. So what we’re trying to do is bring ATDC resources, whether it’s coaching, whether it’s connections, whether it’s curriculum that are very specifically driven to healthcare or health tech startups."
The program is the third to launch at ATDC, following other gifts used to launch programs in the fintech and retail technology industries. McCracken would not disclose the amount NASCO gifted to ATDC, but said the donation was "significant."
"We look forward to embracing all of the resources that can come to there for this industry in Atlanta and across the state of Georgia because we just have so many to tap into, so we’re really excited about it."
“NASCO views this partnership with the ATDC and the launch of the HealthTech initiative as critical to our mission to deliver innovative health services and to support the Georgia healthcare and technology communities,” David Weeks, NASCO’s chief technology officer, said in a press release. “Healthcare is a highly interconnected ecosystem, and new technologies are helping us to both reduce customer friction and improve health outcomes. The HealthTech vertical will be a key incubator of new ideas to enable these changes.”
Healthcare technology utilizes a broad variety of tech found in Atlanta, from cybersecurity, to IoT to AI, and the program at ATDC is another big step in establishing Atlanta as a hub for health tech, McCracken said.
"In addition, by partnering with organizations like NASCO and embracing the wider community that supports healthcare innovation in Georgia we are going to help focus Atlanta and Georgia as a center for healthcare technology," she said. "So these companies will be solving today’s problems and exploring opportunities to implement innovation and technology to solve tomorrow’s problems."
NASCO is owned by and exclusively serves Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, according to the company. Products designed by NASCO are geared to help healthcare payers address business challenges and operations.
ATDC will kick off the launch of the new health tech program at an event held at their offices on July 10 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
"We look forward to embracing all of the resources that can come to there for this industry in Atlanta and across the state of Georgia because we just have so many to tap into, so we’re really excited about it," McCracken said.
