Intermountain Foundry

Public description

About the program

The Intermountain Foundry is Intermountain Health's internal accelerator for employee-generated innovation, turning promising caregiver ideas and near-market concepts into commercial ventures. Participants go through a structured eight-week program in which they refine the business concept, assess commercial viability, identify remaining development needs and build a plan to scale the idea inside Intermountain or across the broader healthcare industry. It was created as one of three pillars of the Innovation at Intermountain initiative, alongside strategic investments in outside healthcare companies and an accelerator run with Healthbox in Salt Lake City. Outside companies and investors engage through the Healthbox partnership and through the shark-tank style review panels that evaluate Foundry projects. The program is open to Intermountain employees across the system's hospitals and clinics.

What the program publicly emphasizes

Focus areas and features

• •Category: Health system accelerator

Publicly documented people and network

Program leadership and alumni

Notable alumni named in public materials

Inaugural cohort event held February 2015 drew 40 applications reviewed for strategic fit, business need and market opportunity, with four projects completing the program and over 50 employees participating; Inaugural projects presented were Wailua Magnetics (atrial fibrillation), GermWatch (infectious disease tracking), SmartPX (heart failure readmission prediction) and Micro Environ (cancer cell research medium); 2015 Foundry participant Intermountain ROMS (Rehab Outcomes Management System) was managing over 1.6 million patient visits across 50 Intermountain physical therapy sites at program entry and expanded to four additional client sites outside Intermountain within 18 months of the program; Delivered in collaboration with the accelerator firm Healthbox; STATUS CAVEAT: the publicly available Foundry material dates from 2015-2018 and Intermountain does not currently publish a dedicated Foundry program page, so current activity could not be confirmed; Inaugural Innovation and Growth Event in February 2015 showcased four completed projects drawn from 40 applications, with more than 50 Intermountain employees involved in refining and testing them (Intermountain Healthcare); Structured as an eight-week program covering business concept refinement, commercial viability assessment and scaling plans (Intermountain Healthcare); Created as one of three pillars of the Innovation at Intermountain initiative announced in November 2014 with Healthbox, alongside Strategic Investments and the Healthbox Salt Lake City Accelerator (Intermountain Health newsroom)