Houston startup connects the dots between contract nurses and medical facilities

On Demand

Houston-based NurseDash is the Uber of staffing nursing shifts in medical facilities. Photo via nursedash.com

It's no secret that there's a shortage of nurses nationwide — and in Houston, the situation is no different. As baby boomers reach old age, the need for healthcare is only becoming more dire. Most facilities see a turnover rate of between 30 and 180 percent among nurses, leaving jobs open and shifts in need of being covered. Ideal staffing is a 5:1 patient-to-nurse ratio, but many sites are getting by with more like 8:1.

The solution for most healthcare facilities, whether they're hospitals, doctors offices or nursing homes, is to contact agencies to fill those spots. But agencies charge a high percentage for placement and lack transparency, says Andy Chen, former CFO for Nobilis Health Corporation. That's why he and Jakob Kohl created their app, NurseDash.

"Historically, some local agencies will promise you that they'll have somebody for you at 7 a.m. tomorrow, then start calling their people. They promise they'll send somebody, but they don't even know who it is," says Chen.

"The other thing is [facilities] would typically call multiple agencies so you're kind of on the hook with first-come-first-serve basis. And they were incentivized to say, 'Yes I've got somebody for you,' then find the person rather than finding the right candidate for that particular shift," adds Kohl, a principal at Everwise Healthcare and an attorney.

The two men were convinced that they could do better. They wanted to make sure that high-quality, accredited nurses could match with the medical sites where they were the perfect fit, for shifts that worked for both of them. NurseDash is the platform that makes the idea a reality.

NurseDash launched in 2017 and is the product of Belgian designers and developers in Russia. The project manager for the app is in New York, but official headquarters in Houston's Galleria area, where a staff of five works with the team spread out around the world.

Since its debut, NurseDash has attracted 40 facilities in Houston, including hospitals, surgery centers, and senior living, and about 400 nurses. Chen says he isn't sure just what to call his technology yet, but compares it to the ride hailing of Uber or Lyft and calls it "a virtual bulletin board."

The healthcare site posts shifts that it needs to fill. Nurses who fit the requirements see the availability and can choose what suits their schedules, then apply within the app. Everything takes place within the app, including payment and asking questions about the job. Nurses have already been vetted before they're able to apply, with comprehensive credentialing including license checks and drug screenings. The percentage that NurseDash takes from the transaction is about 30 percent less than an agency would take, says Kohl.

It's clear why medical facilities need such a service, but how does it benefit the nurses? It depends on where they are in their careers. Experienced nurses can pick up extra shifts on top of their full-time jobs, if they so desire. Practitioners returning to the game after having children can find times that work with their busy schedules. And fledgling nurses can use the opportunities to get a foot in the door at hospitals where they'd like to work full-time someday.

"They can work on their schedule, on their terms," says Kohl.

NurseDash has already expanded beyond Houston to northeast Ohio, which the founders say has a similar competitive dynamic to the Houston market. The next goal is to hit the rest of the top 10 largest cities in the United States. The next markets, says Kohl, will roll out at the request of major hospitals with locations both in Houston and those other cities. Ultimately, the goal is to become the go-to marketplace for nurses across the country. One shift at a time, NurseDash is making healthcare better.

Patients about to undergo brain surgery can use VR to see what their surgeon is about to do to their brain. Courtesy of Methodist

5 new technologies enhancing health care at Houston Methodist

game changers

While hospital systems might have a reputation for being slow adaptors to new technologies, Houston Methodist is single-handedly trying to change that theory. From artificial intelligence to virtual reality, the hospital system is making big moves innovating and introducing cutting edge tools and systems.

Houston Methodist's Center for Innovation, which has really developed in the past few months, is lead by Roberta Schwartz — executive vice president, chief innovation officer, and chief executive officer of Houston Methodist Hospital. She says Methodist has always lead the way within health care innovation in Houston.

"I think we're an industry that is transforming itself. We're either going to be disrupted or we're going to do the disruption ourselves," Schwartz tells InnovationMap in a previous interview. "There's nobody who knows health care better than we do, so if we're going to transform the industry, I want that transformation to come from the inside."

Here are five different new programs the hospital has introduced to enhance patient care.

An automated recruiting tool named Mia

Photo via houstonmethodistcareers.org

Hospital recruiting has always posed a problem for a few reasons, but one challenge has been the lack of HR resources available at all hours of the day or night. To help rectify this issue, Methodist has introduced Mia, a 24/7 chatbot that can answer HR questions from potential applicants.

"We find that we are communicating with night nurses at 1 am asking about benefits," Schwartz says. A lot of the people we are trying to recruit are working at night when we don't have HR staff in the office all night long."

Methodist is one of five in the country to launch the recruiting chatbot. The initial pilot is focused on recruiting medical surgical nurses and medical assistants. In just four months, Mia has chatted with over 800 prospective employees resulting in over 20 hires.

Pre- and post-op automated information

Photo via caresense.com

A crucial time for patients is immediately before and after surgeries or procedures, but doctors and medical staff usually has the most trouble keeping track of patients during these times.

CareSense automated program offers reminders and monitoring questions that better connects the patients with the hospital. In the three months the pilot has been running, nearly 500 Houston Methodist surgical patients reported extremely high satisfaction and over 75 percent of patients are engaged with the program.

Currently, CareSense works with Houston Methodist patients undergoing certain total joint replacement, colorectal, spine, and cardiac procedures. The technology can send texts, emails, website, and video links before and after the procedure. Early data has seen a reduction in missed appointments, lower surgical cancellations, and increased patient compliance. Up next is an expansion into various clinical areas, including mental health, interventional radiology, and oncology.

Virtual reality technology for brain surgeries

Patients about to undergo brain surgery can use VR to see what their surgeon is about to do to their brain. Courtesy of Methodist

Houston Methodist Hospital is channeling a Magic School Bus episode with new VR technology that allows neurosurgical patients and their family members to essentially walk through their brains ahead of their surgeries.

The patient wears a virtual reality headset and gets a 360 degree view of their brain, and the neurosurgeon can walk the patient through the surgery process. According to a release from Houston Methodist, the technology is the first of its kind that combines fighter jet flight simulation with patients' anatomy scans from MRI, CT, and/or DTI processes to make a 3D model.

Virtual urgent care

Screenshot via App Store

Houston Methodist recently went mobile, Schwartz says. About 77 percent of patients are interested in virtual access to physicians, according to the Advisory Board's 2017 Virtual Visits Consumer Choice Survey that included over 5,000 patients across the country — and 19 percent of patients have already engaged with doctors virtually.

"We live in a technology-driven age where people want easy access to services and they are open to seeing a provider via video. With virtual urgent care, a patient can get help for minor illnesses from the comfort of their own home," says Schwartz in a release.

The new MyMethodist app provides a platform for patients to contact doctors virtually, as well as medical records, test results, bill payments, prescription services and more. Some of the conditions included in virtual treatment are cold/flu symptoms, pink eye, skin infections/rash, allergies, cough/fever/headache, and upper respiratory infections.

Scheduling tool partnership with Next Level Urgent Care and Blockit

Photo via nextlevelurgentcare.com

In an emergency situation, a patient might opt for an urgent care center over a hospital visit. Houston Methodist wants to connect the dots in that case in order to best serve its patients. A partnership between Blockit, Next Level Urgent Care, and Methodist has emerged to allow for easier access to follow-up appointments with orthopedic specialty physicians, and an urgent care patient might leave the facility with his or her follow-up visit already scheduled. In the pilot program's first five months into this pilot, over 120 urgent care patients engaged with the program and made follow up appointments from the facility.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Houston museum showcases America's founding documents in rare exhibit

Experience History

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Houstonians have a chance to see rare documents from the founding of the nation. Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation, presented by the National Archives Foundation, will be on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Monday, May 25.

The collection includes a rare engraving of the original Declaration of Independence; official Oaths of Allegiance signed by George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton; a draft of the Bill of Rights; the Treaty of Paris, the documented that recognized America's independence from Great Britain; and the tally of votes approving the Constitution.

The National Archives specifically chose Houston as one of only eight cities in the country to host the exhibit as a means to help the documents reach a wider audience outside of the main hub of semiquincentennial events in New England and the Washington, D.C. area.

"One of the things we decided when we put the tour together because we wanted to be off the East Coast," said Patrick Madden, CEO of the National Archives Foundation, who was onsite for the exhibit's opening in Houston. "There's a lot of 250th celebration stuff happening in the original 13 colonies. How do we get it to major markets where larger numbers of people can see it? So in the case of Houston, obviously, [is a] major market in this part of the country, but also we've partnered with the museum twice before with National Archives exhibits, so we knew that they would be up to the task of handling the exhibit and the crowds."

The star of the collection is a rare engraving of the original Declaration of Independence. Secretary of State and future president John Quincy Adams commissioned 200 exact replicas of the document from engraver William J. Stone in 1823. Less than 50 now remain. Madden joyfully pointed out that there are errors in this document, a potent reminder that the men who forged a nation made mistakes.

"There's a couple of typos in it where they had to make corrections," said Madden. "So even the founders, you know, they're all human. That resonates because here these people are making this move against the most powerful nation in the world and putting their lives on the line for a country based on ideas."

Other impressive parts of the collection include official Oaths of Allegiance signed by George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton, as well as one of the drafts of the Bill of Rights. Many states would not ratify the Constitution until certain rights were included in the document, leading to Washington going on a national tour assuring state leaders enshrining protections was first on the list. The draft copy on display specifically shows the First Amendment in progress.

Houston is the fourth stop on the exhibition's tour, which will take the documents to Denver, Miami, Dearborn, and Seattle through the summer. Freedom Plane is just one part of a larger patriotic celebration at the HMNS, which includes a film series celebrating American science and culture and general Americana decoration throughout the main hall.

Admission to Freedom Plane is free to the public, but separate from general admission to the museum. Space is limited, and passes are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Non-members should expect long waits or the possibility that the day's passes are sold out. Only museum members can reserve passes for specific times. Flash photography is prohibited due to the fragile nature of the documents.

---

This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston quantum energy chip startup emerges from stealth with $12M round

seed funding

Houston-based Casimir has emerged from stealth with a $12 million seed round to commercialize its quantum energy chip.

The round was led by Austin-based Scout Ventures. Lavrock Ventures, Cottonwood Technology, Capital Factory, American Deep Tech, and Tim Draper of Draper Associates also participated in the round. The oversubscribed round exceeded the company’s original $8 million target, according to a news release.

Casimir’s semiconductor chips can generate power from quantum vacuum fields without the need for batteries or charging. The company plans to commercialize its first-generation MicroSparc chip by 2028.

The MicroSparc chip measures 5 millimeters by 5 millimeters and is designed to produce 1.5 volts at 25 microamps, comparable to a small rechargeable battery, without degradation and no replacement cycle.

“Casimir represents exactly the kind of breakthrough dual-use technology Scout Ventures was built to back,” Brad Harrison, founder and managing partner at Scout Ventures, said in the release. “This is based on 100 years of science and we’re finally approaching a commercial product … We’re proud to lead this round and support Casimir’s journey from applied science to deployed technology.”

Casimir says it aims to scale its technology across the ”full power spectrum,” including large-scale energy systems that can power homes, commercial infrastructures and electric vehicles.

Casimir's scientific work has been supported by DARPA-funded nanofabrication research and its technology was incubated at the Limitless Space Institute (LSI). LSI is a nonprofit that works to innovate interstellar travel and was founded by Kam Ghaffarian. Technology investor and serial entrepreneur Ghaffarian has been behind companies like X-energy, Intuitive Machines, Axiom Space and Quantum Space.

Harold “Sonny” White, founder and CEO of Casimir, believes the technology can power devices for years without replacements.

“Millions of devices will operate for years without a battery ever needing to be replaced or recharged because we have engineered a customized Casimir cavity into hardware capable of producing persistent electrical power,” White added in the release. “I spent nearly two decades at NASA studying how we power humanity’s future. That work led me to the Casimir effect and the quantum vacuum, where new tools have allowed us to build on a century of scientific knowledge and bring abundant power to the world.”

Houston leads the way in innovative brain research and more news to know

INNOVATIONMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME

Houston startup connects the dots between contract nurses and medical facilities

On Demand

5 new technologies enhancing health care at Houston Methodist