Challenge Goal
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened our awareness of the critical role family caregivers play in our society and the ways they impact our healthcare system and the overall economy. We launched this Challenge to find digital health solutions that support caregivers in facing new challenges to caring for loved ones and that help them return to work.
Program Overview
Eight finalists were selected for a ten-week accelerator program run by Lever, Inc. During the accelerator, the finalists were assessed on their testing and validation needs and matched with members of the MA Digital Health Sandbox Network, a group of cutting-edge research and development organizations supporting digital health companies. Participants worked with their Sandbox partners to scope detailed six-month testing and validation projects.
Winner Announced!
On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, a panel of judges selected Kinto as the grand prize winner of the Innovations in Caregiving COVID-19 Recovery Challenge. Based in Cambridge, Kinto is a virtual platform that offers caregiver coaching, a personalized e-learning curriculum, and peer support groups. Kinto received a $100,000 grant to work with MITRE, a member of the Massachusetts Digital Health Sandbox Network. MITRE will provide subject matter expertise and resources to help Kinto develop their platform for state MEDICAID plans and for non-dementia caregivers.
Runners-Up
The three runners-up in the Challenge will each receive $50,000 grants to work with their Sandbox partners.
Cherish (Allston, MA)
Cherish is a personalized activity subscription service that supports and educates family caregivers and engages people living with dementia through customized activity kits. They will partner with the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub to conduct a pilot study on the impact of Cherish’s activity kits on people with dementia and their family caregivers.
Power of Patients (Boston, MA)
Power of Patients is a patient-led technology company with an AI driven app that collects data directly from patients with neurological conditions or their caregivers, which can be shared directly with healthcare providers. Power of Patients will work with MITRE to test and pilot the bi-directional communication on their platform between healthcare providers and caregivers.
Thriving.ai (Boston, MA)
Thriving’s app brings everyone involved in a senior’s care together to support independent living. Seniors can keep in touch with their families and the app can actively and passively collect health data, providing updates and insights to both formal and family caregivers. Thriving will work with MGH’s Medical Device Plug-and-Play Lab to integrate and test medical devices with their app, perform a risk analysis, and demonstrate the integrated products in a simulated environment for patient family members, clinicians, and experts from the MGH community.
Semi-Finalists
- Beeyonder (Wayland, MA)
- Cigna Caregiver (Bloomfield, CT)
- HelpAroundTown, Inc. (Lexington, MA)
- See Yourself Health (Beverly, MA)