ERInfo
Potential to Improve Patient Outcomes in Life-Threatening Situations
Overview
ERInfo is a real-time identification platform that helps first responders and front line physicians better serve victims in emergency situations. First responders can use ERInfo's patented technology to identify patients and receive immediate access to their emergency contact information so that loved ones can easily be notified of hospitalizations. In addition, in an effort to improve outcomes and reduce errors in hospital/pre-hospital workflow, ERInfo allows providers to securely access patients’ most critical health information.
From the patient's perspective, everyone has the ability to create his/her own patient profile on ERInfo’s platform. From a first responder's perspective, it makes their job easier and has the potential to greatly improve patient outcomes.
The Problem
Today, doctors recommend that patients wear medical alert bracelets for a multitude of conditions. However, patient compliance is extremely low and the technology hasn’t been updated in 50+ years. This can have a dire impact on the patient’s outcome as not knowing your patient can delay both diagnosis and treatment. Without immediate access to patients’ medical histories and emergency contacts, physicians have more difficulty assessing the situation and therefore, developing the treatment plan is more challenging. In emergency scenarios, those lost hours, or even minutes, can make all the difference.
This is where ERInfo comes in. ERInfo provides anywhere, anytime patient identification and emergency contact notification during emergencies, natural disasters, and mass casualties. ERInfo’s long-term vision is to be the global medical identification service for all public safety agencies and consumers. At inception, it is focusing on targeting medical first responders (of which there are approximately 1.7M in the US) and patients with pre-existing conditions (of which there are approximately 150M in the US alone).
Current Stage
ERinfo’s technology is already patented and FirstNet Certified. FirstNet is the federal government's proprietary wireless network for use by public safety agencies throughout the US. By partnering with FirstNet, ERInfo can easily be distributed and deployed to first responders’ mobile devices and ensure that patients’ health information remains in a secure environment.
ERInfo is conducting a usability study with 400 ambulances in Florida. ERInfo is providing the training and is planning on publishing a paper demonstrating the effectiveness of its technology once the study is complete. Using this data to demonstrate adoption and usability at scale, ERInfo plans to expand to commercial health insurers and managed care organizations.
The Team
Founder Dr. Paige Finkelstein attended MIT prior to medical school. She received her MD + MPH from University of Miami and is a house surgeon at Mount Sinai. Given Paige’s desire to complement her medical background with a deeper understanding of business, she is currently enrolled in Columbia Business School. Now, as an MBA candidate, Paige feels strongly that she’ll be able to take ERInfo's potential to the next level. Paige's cofounders include highly experienced engineers and business people that have collectively built software products, run public companies and have had several successful startup exits.
Next Steps
ERInfo already has a few hundred users enrolled on its platform. In addition, this solution is highly anticipated by first responders and other medical professionals. There is no question that there is demand for ERInfo from both sides of the marketplace (public safety agencies and consumers). The next step for ERInfo is to continue to build out its infrastructure, complete its scalability study, and deliver upon its first commercial contracts.
Given the spotlight that has been shining on the healthcare world since March 2020, healthtech ventures are receiving a significant amount of attention. Startups like ERInfo have the potential to make a significant positive impact on patient outcomes while potentially reducing costs as well (which are key performance measures and massive hurdles for the healthcare industry). Be sure to keep an eye on ERInfo as they disrupt the medical ID marketplace!
To learn more about ERInfo, visit: https://erinfo.me/