Health care access and quality of care are a hot topic in Washington these days, but major players in technology have been working on these issues for decades. Chicago is a health tech nerve center, and we've rounded up some of the startups and tech companies working on everything from helping hospitals reduce infections to making office workers healthier while sitting at their desks.
Best healthcare companies in chicago
Founded: 2016
Calderos is a health technology company that uses data analytics to reduce waste and inefficiency in medical management. Using extensive data on drug rebates, the company built the first prescription drug rebate management platform, helping to move the pharmaceutical industry toward pricing transparency for patients.
was established: 1989
Jelly Vision It is a health technology company that provides software and technology for employee benefits management. Its platform offerings include benefits consulting, personal enrollment support, engagement tools, and company-specific options. Jellyvision aims to demystify the complex and frustrating benefits landscape for employees, with the aim of supporting them in accessing all the benefits they are entitled to.
Establishment date: 2020
Avanir Health It offers a decentralized healthcare ecosystem, the Avaneer ecosystem, that acts as a peer-to-peer network for healthcare organizations. Participants use the network to collaborate across institutions and share real-time data, with the goal of streamlining the administrative side of healthcare. The network is used by prominent organizations including Aetna, CVS Health, and Cleveland Clinic.
Founded: 2016
Carrot Fertility has filled one of the most difficult gaps in healthcare: fertility. Offering various benefits for “family-making journeys” with or without an infertility diagnosis, the company’s care platform is sold as an add-on to employee benefits packages. Carrot Fertility facilitates services including egg, sperm and embryo freezing, IVF, gestational surrogacy, and pregnancy and postpartum care.
Founded: 1987
PatientPoint provides health technology to physician offices and hospitals, providing health education and physician-patient communication designed to improve outcomes and patient satisfaction. It works with more than 140,000 medical providers in nearly 40,000 offices. PatientPoint says its products support measurable positive healthcare outcomes, such as increases in proactive health services in the form of mammograms and colon cancer screenings.
Founded: 2010
Q-Centrix helps healthcare organizations unlock the potential of clinical data with its enterprise clinical data management platform. The company boasts a community of over 1,000 members, who leverage expert insights to organize and distribute clinical data across different departments. Instead of investing time and resources into employee training, healthcare teams can rely on the platform to filter massive amounts of clinical data. Q-Centrix enables companies to tailor their flexible technology to meet the needs of specialists in cardiology, oncology and other fields.
Founded: 2014
ReadyHealth creates software that makes home care easier. The Ready platform enables seamless transitions from facility to home, stronger communications, and real-time updates and services ranging from meal delivery to in-home caregivers.
Founded: 2007
Evive creates custom tools to help users track their health needs. The technology analyzes data points and translates them into suggestions such as alerting a user who suffers from seasonal allergies during a high pollen cycle, or a recommendation to schedule an annual checkup. Evive is a solution that combines big data and behavior, giving people the power to make better preventative health decisions that ultimately result in millions of dollars in cost savings.
Founded: 2001
The GoHealth platform is a beacon in the often confusing and complex world of health insurance. Not just for consumers, the company offers solutions for every player in the industry, including carriers and insurance agents. GoHealth has helped more than 2 million users find the right coverage while providing the information and insights needed to fully understand their plans.
Founded: 2012
Higi is a health terminal that allows users to track their health. Going beyond steps and heart rate, the Higi provides information on a variety of health factors such as BMI, pulse, weight, blood pressure and body fat percentages. Higi Station's checks paint a complete picture of a user's health, and its mobile app allows progress to be monitored from anywhere, at any time. Higi also has a built-in community where users can find friends to follow and groups to join for that extra bit of support.
Founded: 1994
Intelligent Medical Objects has developed a list of IT solutions to ensure healthcare organizations keep their electronic health records up to date. The company also provides terminology creation tools, enabling service providers to operate efficiently and confidently. The healthcare industry can seem disorganized at times, so intelligent medical objects streamline processes. Providers can now access patient data, enrich their surgical dictionaries, and track billing records. By harnessing the power of technology, Intelligent Medical Objects empowers providers to deliver a more satisfying patient experience.
Founded: 2012
Procured Health is a builder of a software suite that helps healthcare providers spend wisely on medical supplies, devices, and medications. (Update: Procured Health is now Lumere.) The platform's three solutions, IntelligencePRO, EvaluationPRO, and PipelinePRO, mine data and use clinical evidence to free providers from wasteful spending, ultimately reducing patient costs and improving overall care.
Founded: 2013
Pareto Intelligence is a data and analytics company that provides insights that help healthcare organizations manage risk, revenue, and cost. The company enables healthcare providers, systems and plans to identify risks and inefficiencies, and improve their long-term financial performance. To date, Pareto has analyzed over $100 billion in medical costs and claims.
Founded: 2013
PhysIQ monitors each patient's vitals using biosensor technology to provide a more complete patient profile. Through the collected data, providers can understand individual patterns and know when a person is healthy. Instead of reacting to problems, providers can now take a more preventative approach to health care. PhysIQ data allows professionals to detect instances when someone's health is out of sync. They can then notify the patient and determine if any next steps are needed.
Founded: 2015
Tempus creates the largest library of clinical and molecular data in the world. The goal is to ultimately bring cancer treatment into the 21st century with data-driven insights that doctors can use to make more effective and personalized treatment decisions. Tempus works to make every patient's experience better than the last and has partnered with prominent institutions such as Mayo Clinic, Northwestern Medicine and Rush University Medical Center.
Founded: 2015
Upfront Health is creating a more efficient system to handle high volumes of patient visits within clinics. Upfront evaluates every practice visit, analyzing schedules and logistics to determine the best actions to avoid missed or unnecessary appointments, incomplete tests and no-shows.
Founded: 1999
Veritas Health produces original, peer-reviewed articles written by physicians to advance patient education about chronic pain and musculoskeletal conditions. With more than six million monthly patient visits, Veritas has four websites with educational content covering health topics related to sports, osteoporosis, spine and arthritis.
VillageMD is creating a new clinical model for primary care physicians. The model improves patient care and the economic performance of practices through data analytics, support services, and physician-based care coordination. The VillageMD model operates in a local, personal setting and is unique to each practice, personalized to the doctors and patients within the market.
Founded: 2010
Rally Health provides patients with a software platform to manage their personal health goals and insurance benefits. By offering individuals the option to explore verified health recommendations tailored to their specific needs, Rally Health helps users stay on top of their health and treatments while sticking to their budgets.
Founded: 2013
Opternative uses online vision testing and subsequent review by an ophthalmologist to provide quick, clinic-free prescriptions. The service allows users to manage their vision prescription needs from home, which is especially convenient when patients find they have run out of contact lenses or need a new pair of glasses in a hurry.
Founded: 1996
Bswift is a cloud platform that simplifies the HR process. Bswift's software is fully customizable based on each company's needs, and allows employees to pick and choose their own benefits. The benefits enrollment and management platform helps healthcare companies better track and manage benefits packages.
Founded: 2012
SwipeSense has created a hand hygiene monitoring system for hospitals and healthcare facilities. This technology uses cloud sensors and dispensary health devices to record staff usage, helping hospitals track hand hygiene rates and reduce the need for manual monitoring. Nearly 1.7 million hospitals in the United States experience outbreaks each year. At an average cost of $15,000 per infection, SwipeSense reduces a costly and serious problem in healthcare.
Founded: 1984
ComPsych is the world's largest provider of employee assistance programs. The healthcare company serves more than 100 million people worldwide through its employee assistance, behavioral health, and FMLA programs. Flexible and customizable corporate software helps companies attract and retain employees.
Founded: 2002
Emmi helps patients take a more active role in managing their healthcare with easy-to-use platforms that address everything from surgical preparation to exam reminders. Emmi combines simple conversational language with multimedia to reach patients outside the doctor's office, keeping them more informed and engaged throughout the entire cycle of care.
Founded: 2014
The Cubii is an ergonomic elliptical designed to keep people active for long periods of time. The Cubii is smaller than other under-desk fitness machines and can be used in most spaces, eliminating bumped knees and the need to rearrange furniture. Ever since the phrase “sitting is the new smoking” gained currency, office dwellers have been looking for new ways to exercise. The Cubii Portable offers a healthier version of sitting that can be used anywhere.
Founded: 2007
Analyte Health helps patients consume and understand diagnostic information. The company provides on-demand access to doctors and same-day lab appointments that are typically delivered within three days. Analyte has safely and cost-effectively delivered more than 2.2 million lab results to patients while simultaneously reducing the turnaround time for test results.
Founded: 2010
Caremerge bridges the gap in communication between people in nursing facilities and their loved ones. The company's dashboards provide complete information integration across platforms for both caregivers and family members. Caremerge helps family members see what their loved ones are doing throughout the day, giving them peace of mind while giving providers an easy system to manage patient care.
Founded: 2011
First Stop is a telehealth service that provides 24/7 access to doctors, health information, and advocacy services. First Stop is the solution to urgent medical needs when the doctor's office is closed and the condition does not require a trip to the emergency room.
Founded: 2014
Triggr Health has created a predictive tool for addiction recovery, offering 24/7 support to users in their moments of need. Using phone sensors and data, Triggr can detect potential regressive behavior up to three days in advance with up to 92 percent accuracy. This allows professional defenders to intervene before it is too late.
