Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Pennsylvania’s Erie Innovation Fund, a partnership with the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, has invested in two healthcare companies — one to assist Medicaid billing for home-care services for the elderly and another with a catheter system to guard against hospital-acquired infections.
Dr. Anthony Colantonio and Dr. Menno Jager, co-founders of PSI Medical Catheter Care, started developing a catheter care system in 2007 to prevent the bacteria contamination that can cause catheter-related bloodstream infections and lead to hospital-acquired infections, which causes an estimated 99,000 deaths each year.
The company seeks to lower the nearly $30 million in direct costs incurred by the hospitals to treat these infections. It won $100,000 as part of Ben Franklin’s Big Idea Business Plan contest in 2009.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Reducing hospital-acquired infections is a big priority for healthcare providers and has spurred innovation by and investment in medical device companies developing technologies to reduce or eliminate these infections.
In 2010, urinary tract infections in 251 Pennsylvania hospitals accounted for 23 percent of hospital-acquired infections, second only to those acquired through surgery, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Health report.
@Home FMS, a spinoff business of Comfort Care and Resources that provides home management and companionship services to elderly clients, received $150,000 from the fund, the first investment from the state economic development program.
The @Home system automates the current paper process for billing of Medicaid-approved home-care services for the elderly. James Fetzner, CEO of @Home FMS said: “We have developed a low-cost, point-of-care communication system that doesn’t use a single piece of paper.”
A spokeswoman for Ben Franklin commenting on the investment in @Home FMS said that the move to invest in the company for the first time came down to a combination of its established track record at Comfort Care and its technology. “They have had a successful history. It’s a very exciting technology. They had an innovative technology component, which is what we look for.”
