When Hospitals Turn Deadly
Technology Can Save
She wasn’t supposed to die.
My grandmother went to the hospital for a simple procedure and never left. An overnight stay turned into weeks when a hospital-acquired infection took her life.
It was 13 years ago. The date is easy to remember, because I was pregnant with our first child - her first great-grandchild.
We live in a time with so much technology, but some of our most critical industries feel stuck in the stone age. It boggles my mind.
You mean, the existing software used in hospitals can’t read all that patient data and assess risk of an infection? Or a fall?
Well, no...
Preventable harm events such as falls, pressure injuries, and hospital-acquired infections contribute to 17% of US deaths each year. Over 1 million patients fall in hospitals each year, and that costs US hospitals over $35 billion.
Until now.
Devina Desai, CEO of Kinometrix, has set out to reduce these preventable harm events. Using machine learning, Kinometrics leverages data in the electronic health record (EHR) to reduce the number of unnecessary deaths in the U.S.
The first product they’ve built is their fall risk assessment. In Devina’s pitch she explains:
How they currently risk assess patients is manual. It's antiquated, and it's additional documentation for nurses. It’s inaccurate and subjective…. We have all the APIs connecting [Kinometrix] to any electronic health record in the US. We have three signed letters of intent, as well as two large contracts in process with health systems.
You might expect this pitch to play on your heartstrings with stories of how the healthcare system has failed the people it’s sworn to protect.
But, strangely, (or to her credit?) Devina remains very factual and… realistic.
But investors don’t always love realism.
Don't be realistic in front of investors. It doesn’t help you.
- Mac Conwell, RareBreed Ventures
In episode 142 of The Pitch, we find technology that could actually make hospitals safer, so stories like my grandmother’s aren’t repeated. And we dive deep into what VCs really think makes a founder successful.
Listen to Devina’s pitch to hear which way this panel leans and the one phrase you should never say to a VC.
Register for our Virtual Watch Party to hear the conclusion of each story in the Season 12 Finale.
🎥 Watch Devina’s pitch on YouTube or listen in your favorite podcast app 🎧