It was a whirlwind week in Kenya. Lori Most, founder of BinaryBridge, was there in June to test her mobile electronic medical record system, called BackpackEMR, for the Nairobi County government. It was the second test. During the first, the digital record-keeping system that is designed to track patient information in remote places with limited internet had some trouble with the volume of patients.
Medical staff checked residents’ blood sugar and blood pressure, tested for HIV and looked for signs of cancer. The two-day free mobile clinic that served as BackpackEMR’s “proof of concept” saw 1,000 patients, Most told Minne Inno after returning. And their own test went off without a hitch.
“There were no hiccups at all,” she said. “It was super fast.”
Minneapolis-based BackpackEMR, one of Minne Inno’s “Inno on Fire” startups, has posted a strong 2019 so far, with a funding round and new contracts that make it a year of growth.
So far, 12 organizations serving patients in nine countries have adopted the technology, paying subscriptions based on the number of patients.
The trip to Kenya should lead to a deal to roll out BackpackEMR in the five to 10 mobile clinics Nairobi County operates each month. They haven’t finalized the deal yet, Most said, but they have the green light from government officials to move forward. From there, Most sees potential to expand throughout the country.
Also this month, BackpackEMR announced a partnership with Timmy Global Health, a nonprofit providing medical care at nine sites in four countries. Timmy Global Health will start using BackpackEMR at four of its sites this fall to handle records for the 40,000 to 50,000 visitors it sees each year, making it the biggest deal BackpackEMR has landed so far.
Most had the idea that led to the mobile record-keeping system while on a trip to Peru in 2013 with her sister, a physician's assistant. They went as part of a medical team providing orthopedic care there several times each year. She saw the challenges the team faced, seeing tons of patients – some of them new, some of them follow-up appointments from previous visits, and keeping all their records on paper.
“I could tell they needed help,” she said. “It was just insanity.”
The teams don’t work in a fixed location and they don’t always have access to the internet, so existing electronic record systems didn’t suit them. Most used two decades of experience in software development at companies including Target, UnitedHealth Group, C.H. Robinson, SPS Commerce and Jostens.
BackpackEMR prototypes went through several rounds of testing over three years. Through that time, Most continued working with the medical team in Peru. The company took on paying customers in 2018.
The time spent building the product has paid off with Kenya as the latest example. “The product itself is very mature in terms of stability, reliability, data security,” Most said. That tells her it’s time to invest more in marketing and sales
The company has raised $220,000 in a planned $500,000 round that it hopes to finish soon. The additional funds will fund a senior team member to oversee sales and account management.
