“Every year in Australia, 300,000 people can’t get surgery because other people are in hospital with complications.” This is how Atidia’s CEO, Dr. Dan Stiglitz, describes the problem Atidia is working on.
In hospitals today, there isn’t an easy way to either triage patients or prevent complications from pre-existing conditions. Inefficiencies can cost hospitals up to $1,000 an hour when surgery is delayed or cancelled at short notice.
Atidia has been working on this problem for three years. The company has recently been awarded an Accelerating Commercialisation grant of $469,122 under the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme to bring the product to market.
New-to-the-world software
Atidia’s insight is that there is an opportunity for machine learning to improve patient triage. Making sense of vast amounts of patient data has the promise to be much more efficient than manual review.
There have been many attempts to use machine learning to improve patient triage. But a market scan showed two things. First, none have made it out of research. Second, none predict risk. It was the second, diagnostic component that made Atidia stand out.
The team showed strong engagement with medical leaders to validate the market problem. Austin Health, a Melbourne public hospital, has been working with the team for three years in a proof-of-concept using 10,000 past surgeries. This work formed the important evidence that the Accelerating Commercialisation program required to prove the machine learning prototype works.
Strong industry support
The company has exceptional market pull. Locally, the team has engaged with five Melbourne public hospitals.
In addition, Atidia is piloting the product in one of America’s biggest hospitals. Atidia will be able to identify important operational metrics such as which patients need to be seen first, who can be triaged with a phone call for now, and how far before surgery patients need to be seen.
This strong market pull is a signal that Atidia is addressing a big problem with global potential.
Great team
The team are humble while being experts in their field. They have appointed a medical advisory panel to achieve TGA and FDA approvals as part of the grant project.
Clear path to market
Atidia’s industry support shows the company has a clear path to market after the Accelerating Commercialisation project. In the complicated sales environment of hospital procurement, this is some accomplishment and is another signal that Atidia has anticipated the key strategic risks in their business plan.
Accelerating Commercialisation support will help bring this important product to market and make a significant and positive impact on the patient journey.
