After 30 years working in the telecommunications industry, Rise Huffman is embarking on a new professional journey: Entrepreneurship.
Huffman's company, IT services firm StratoCumulus Technologies, is developing Integrated Remote Testing (IRT) — a tech-enabled device that allows responders and care providers to view a patient's electronic medical record at the touch of a button.
Huffman said IRT was inspired by her husband's lung transplant. The first six months of his recovery involved daily trips to the lab, recurring visits from home health aides and daily calls with transplant providers. And if she needed to dial 911 for her husband, how could emergency responders get an up-to-date copy of his medical history to ensure safe care?
"I kept asking questions, and I didn't get answers," Huffman told me. "I asked myself, 'How do we make this easier?' Being in the communication business, I figured, 'I can solve this.'"
So, Huffman got in touch with Launch Dayton and became a graduate of its Early Risers Academy 2020 spring tech cohort. From there, she engaged with The Entrepreneurs Center and connected with Eric Wagner of Converge Technologies — the Columbus-based commercial engineering firm that is now prototyping the IRT device.
Here's how it works: IRT realigns and repurposes existing technologies for real-time, two-way healthcare informatics. The system communicates through AT&T's FirstNet, a public safety broadband network for first responders.
It integrates with MyChart and similar software hospitals use to store patients' medical records. That means the wearable IRT device can send and receive voice and data to hospital EMR systems through a HIPAA-compliant VPN connection.
"It’s all IP-based, so we're just using the existing technology to transmit back and forth over a non-commercial bandwidth," Huffman said. "It takes one touch of a button to get information from the patient record."
The first conceptualization of IRT was meant specifically for the transplant community. Since then, Huffman's vision has evolved to integrate point-of-care testing — an emerging capability that opens the doors to even more applications in the healthcare sector.
The device will be wearable, but users don't have to wear it, Huffman said. They can keep it in a pocket, or in any place that's easily accessible.
"It just depends on the comfort level and what the patient would need," she said.
The target date for the prototype is Nov. 1, and Huffman hopes to continue working with Converge Technologies to start manufacturing it. The current plan, she said, is to sell IRT to medical device manufacturers that already have distribution channels in place.
The biggest challenge? Capital. Once IRT hits the market, Huffman will need to hire people to handle the ordering process — both for the device and for FirstNet.
"It’s a self-contained unit, so when we get an order for 500 units, we also need to do 500 FirstNet orders," she said. "I'm going to need to be able to get those business operations set up as well, and that takes funding."
Huffman started her career in Dayton. She's a member of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce's Member Outreach Committee, and she's actively involved with Project Enginuity — an entrepreneurial support and training program provided by the Chamber and The Entrepreneurs Center.
That's why even though Huffman lives in Cincinnati, she wants Dayton to be the launchpad for IRT.
"Dayton is a hidden gem, and I wish more people heard about it," she said. "My goal in having the IRT come out of Dayton is, if we can bring this out on a national basis, we can highlight the Gem City's history."
