Helium Health

Paper-based records, which dominate African healthcare, are linked to a myriad of issues: medical errors, inefficient healthcare delivery, poor disease surveillance and poor health outcomes. For example, Nigeria has the 2nd highest child mortality rate in the world at 120 deaths per 1,000 births, 3rd lowest life expectancy at 54 years, the 4th highest maternal mortality at 917 deaths per 100,000 births, and persistent outbreaks of epidemic-prone diseases.

To address this, we created a suite of reimagined, connected solutions for all healthcare stakeholders in emerging markets. Beyond digitizing hospitals, our EMR/HMIS solution, which is now the leading hospital software in West Africa, surfaces actionable data. Connected to the EMR is our public health emergency response system, which was created to address the COVID-19 pandemic. It improves disease surveillance by facilitating the easy, early reporting of epidemic-prone diseases via the EMR, and enables data-driven response to public health emergencies.

Despite being more susceptible to epidemic prone diseases, African countries have long struggled with containing outbreaks. For instance, while battling the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria reported the largest Lassa Fever outbreak anywhere in the world with 5000+ confirmed cases. Nigeria’s COVID-19 numbers are also a major source of concern. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which currently stands at almost 18,000, is rising by 40% each week.

Nigeria’s consistent Lassa fever outbreak and the country’s lagging response to the COVID-19 pandemic can be attributed to delayed case reporting and poor public health response coordination. One of the critical challenges of disease surveillance in Nigeria is the lag between when cases are encountered in health facilities and when they are reported to public health authorities. This lag has been largely attributed to the paper-based public health reporting system health facilities are required to use. The coordination of public health response activities is also managed with paper, and thus, is grossly inefficient. The consequences of such inefficiencies include significant delays in testing (which is already happening at an abysmally low rate of 1 test per 100,000 people), hundreds of mysterious deaths across the country, and errors in official reporting.

Our core solution, a reimagined electronic medical records/hospital management information system (EMR/HMIS) software is engineered specifically with consideration for the unique challenges in emerging markets. In addition to digitizing records and processes, this solution leverages data visualization technology to surface key insights.

Our 2nd relevant solution is a Public Health Emergency Response System (ERS) which we developed to support the Nigerian government’s fight to contain COVID-19. Our ERS digitizes the end-to-end public health response to disease outbreaks. It improves disease surveillance by eliminating silos within response teams, introduces transparency about response performance and impact, and facilitates accountability and data-driven resource allocation. The features of the ERS include automated case triage, lab management, remote case monitoring via telemedicine (video and voice calls), and task management queues that enable health workers have a better handle on their responsibilities. Other features are GIS integrations that display the heat map and geographical distribution of disease outbreaks, and AI powered predictions of outbreak progression.

Both solutions can run offline or in the cloud, prioritize interoperability, and are connected to each other. Health facilities using our EMR are able to immediately notify public health authorities when suspected and confirmed cases of epidemic-prone diseases are presented.

Our solutions directly improve the lives of public health authorities, health workers and patients. Since we launched our EMR product in 2016, we have worked closely with health workers to create a unique solution specially designed for their circumstances. Our solution is offline first, addressing possible challenges with internet connectivity, it is ultra-thin, making it easy to deploy, and has an interface that is easy to navigate. This solution addresses their needs by digitizing records, making them easy to retrieve and review; automating processes and thus reducing errors; surfacing data which can be used to identify trends and prompt action, and making it easy to share critical information like reporting suspected cases of endemic prone diseases to the public health authorities.

We developed our ERS solution in partnership with a state government public health authority. This solution, which can be customized to fit the public health response workflow each health authority, addresses the public health authorities needs by eliminating silos, introducing transparency about response performance and impact, and facilitating accountability and data-driven resource allocation. This solution also improves the disease surveillance capabilities of public health authorities by connecting them to the widest digital network of health facilities via our EMR.

Early detection, seamless information transfer and efficient coordination of public health response activities are necessary in preparing for and responding to disease outbreaks. Our EMR solution, through its digitization of health records and surfacing of actionable data, facilitates early detection of diseases by makes it easy for health facilities to report suspected cases of epidemic prone diseases to public health authorities.

Our Emergency Response Solution facilitates the quick execution of response activities, enables health authorities improve disease surveillance and aids in the development/implementation of data driven responses to emerging epidemics and health security threats.

Several attempts to scale foreign EMR solutions across Africa have failed primarily because these solutions are often complicated, expensive and difficult to use in low resource settings. These legacy EMR platforms also prioritized billing codes instead of the provider or patient experience, and made it nearly impossible to share healthcare data.

Created by people intimately familiar with healthcare in Africa, our EMR solution is innovative because it was designed with consideration for the unique challenges on the continent such as low computer literacy and low internet penetration. The Helium EMR is offline first and robust, yet easy to deploy. Its simple user interface, which incorporates elements from widely used social media platforms, makes it easy to use. In addition to being easy to use and offline first, our solution prioritizes interoperability and the easy sharing of healthcare data. This investment in interoperability has enabled us create the largest digital network of hospitals where patients have a unified longitudinal history across the network. Through interoperability and connection to our Public Health Emergency Response System (ERS), health facilities can seamlessly and quickly report suspected cases of concerning diseases.

Our ERS system is innovative because unlike other solutions which simply monitor disease surveillance, our customizable solution also manages and monitors all the response activities of the public health authority. In addition to having stronger disease surveillance capabilities through the integration with the Helium EMR, this emergency response solution also leverages artificial intelligence to predict different epidemiological scenarios and better plan for the future.

The digital software technology is the core technology that powers both our Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Emergency Response System (ERS) solutions. Both solutions are built using NodeJS for the backend, React JS for the frontend, and PostgreSQL for the database. These solutions also leverage mobile/SMS technology to send notifications to patients. Embedded in the ERS solution is GIS technology that enables public health authorities visualize the geographical distribution of diseases for better surveillance. We are also leveraging Artificial Intelligence in the ERS solution to give public health authorities predictions of outbreak progression.

The use of our solution by a wide range of health facilities and public health authorities is proof that this technology works. Our EMR solution is now the #1 hospital software in West Africa. It is used across 300+ of the most reputable private and public health facilities, by 5,000+ health workers to care for over 165,000 patient visits each month. We also have a first of its kind partnership with a state government to digitize the primary and secondary healthcare facilities within the state (Akwa Ibom).

Our Emergency Response Solution is currently being used by two state governments in Nigeria to manage the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Goal

Helium Health aims to build more efficient and affordable healthcare systems across emerging markets, and drastically improve the quality of care for the billions of people who live in these markets.

Activities and Outputs

To achieve this, we offer comprehensive, digital solutions for all healthcare stakeholders. Amongst these solutions are our EMR and ERS which digitize records and automate processes.

Short-term Outcomes

Short-term outcomes of our solutions include reduced errors, increased health worker productivity, quicker service delivery, better disease surveillance and improved availability of actionable data for decision making

Long-Term Outcomes

Long-term outcomes of our solutions include improved service delivery and patient outcomes, data-driven investment and allocation of resources, and rapid detection and containment of disease outbreaks.

Our EMR solution currently serves 5,000+ health workers and 165,000 patients. In the next year, these numbers will grow by at least 2x to 10,000 health workers and 330,000 patients. In the next five years, we expect to have grown by 10x to 50,000 health workers and 1.6M patients.

Our emergency response solution is used by the public health authorities of Nigeria’s most populous states, and thus serve 36M+ people. In the next year, we expect that it will be used in half of the states in Nigeria, and at least one other regional/state government outside Nigeria serving a total of 70M+ people. In five years, we expect our ERS solution to be used to manage disease surveillance across Nigeria and 2 other African countries, serving over 300M+.

In the next year, our EMR solution will improve the operational efficiency and service delivery at 600 facilities and equip 10,000 health workers with digital tools to deliver excellent care to 330,000 patients. In the next 5 years, this solution will impact 3000 health facilities, 50,000 health workers and 1.6M patients. We plan to achieve these goals by expanding within our current markets of Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia, and expanding into East Africa and North Africa within the next year. We will achieve this scale through partnerships and acquisitions. For example, we are currently in discussions with a leading Nigerian bank to finance the deployment of our EMR solution at government run health institutions. Through this partnership, the bank is able to receive healthcare data from the hospital to make better healthcare investments in these facilities, and we are able to scale our solution rapidly.

Similarly, in the next year, our ERS solution will improve disease surveillance and the response of public health authorities in half of the states in Nigeria, helping safeguard the health of 70M people. In the next 5 years, we expect our ERS solution to be used to manage disease surveillance throughout Nigeria and 2 other African countries, serving over 300M+. We will achieve this scale through partnerships with governments and donor agencies working to strengthen disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness across Africa.

Government regulation is one of the barriers that may limit our impact. Healthcare regulation in most African countries has not caught up with digital innovations. Thus, there is a chance that regulations created by governments may disregard the current realities and create regulations that hinder the scaling of digital innovations like ours.

Another possible barrier is the entrance of a larger, better funded player into the digital health landscape in Africa. Such a player could hinder our impact by moving faster than us and capturing most of the market.

We will overcome the possible barrier that government regulation poses by being complaint with international healthcare and data regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR. In addition to this, by being the leading healthcare technology provider in our region, we are in a unique position to shape these policies and laws. For example, we are on the steering committee of the Lagos State Government’s e-health strategy and are helping shape the future of digital health in Africa’s most populous city.

Our local context, sticky product, first mover advantage, and long-term vision will help us overcome the threat of larger, better funded market players. From the beginning, we have understood the importance and potential impact of having an interconnected digital health ecosystem and we have been working towards that. The creation of our ERS solution and its connection to our EMR solution is one of the many ways we are building a moat around our business and protecting it from larger, better funded market entrants.

We have 50 full-time staff and 45 contract staff working at Helium Health.

We have a solid team with over 25 years combined experience in technology and healthcare that is well-positioned to deliver this solution. Our company is led by the co-founders, Adegoke Olubusi, Bolatito Ovia, Dimeji Sofowora, and a strong, gender-balanced management team. Adegoke, our CEO, is one of Africa’s foremost technology disruptors. Bolatito, our Head of Growth, has a background in Biomedical Sciences and solid experience implementing  public health projects in Africa and Latin America. Dimeji, our CFO is a lawyer with strong business acumen. Chichi, our COO, is an expert at designing exceptional processes, and strategies that drive business value.

Our team has successfully built the largest EMR provider in West Africa that is used by over 5,000 medical professionals to treat over 165,000 patients every month. Our achievements have been recognized by the Nigerian Presidency, Forbes, Inc and CNBC

Some of the partnerships we have are with:

• Public health authorities to develop, customize and deploy our emergency response solution.
• A commercial bank to fund the deployment of our solution to government facilities (in negotiations)
• A leading pharmaceutical company to develop and implement a clinical decisioning support tool in our EMR (in negotiations)

Our business model is Software as a Service. For our EMR, we have a flexible pricing structure that is patient and provider driven. Smaller facilities which have less than 80 staff can pay per patient/visit and are only required to pay when they see patients. Larger facilities with more than 80 staff purchase annual user licenses for their staff. We also have a cross subsidization model where more affluent hospitals pay a higher price for our products. This enables us offer these products at a reduced cost to lower-income facilities.

For our ERS solution, we charge public health authorities an annual licensing fee. For governments that cannot afford to pay for this solution, we work with them to secure external financing from donor agencies and other sources.

We are already profitable. We generate revenue through the licensing and subscription fees paid by our customers.

We are applying to Solve because we believe that being part of this amazing community of brilliant minds and innovators will be incredible validation of our work and our solutions. This validation will go a long way towards increasing our visibility and credibility, especially when dealing with government officials. 

We are also interested in learning from and connecting with other Solver teams and forging partnerships that enhance our current products or provide opportunities to expand into other markets.

We are seeking partners to fund the scaling of our Emergency Response Solution to help public health authorities across Africa better manage the COVID-19 pandemic and improve their preparedness for future disease outbreaks. 

We are interested in connecting with influential members of the global health community and recruiting them to join our advisory board. 

We are also interested in collaborations that can enhance our current products and scale them across our new target markets: East Africa and North Africa.

We would like to partner with:

• Donor agencies/funders to fund the scaling of our Emergency Response Solution across Africa
• MIT faculty working in public health to improve on our ERS solution
• Other health-related Solver teams to collaborate on new products or scale our solutions into their markets

The Helium Health team is qualified for this prize because we have taken on the audacious challenge of digitizing healthcare records and processes across Africa, and uncovering critical healthcare data. In under 4 years, we have had incredible success in a landscape that is dominated by paper. We have become the leading hospital provider in West Africa helping over 5,000 medical professionals provide care to 165,000 patients across the region.

Beyond digitizing health records and processes, we are building interconnected solutions that will serve as the digital infrastructure for transforming healthcare across emerging markets. These interconnected solutions, with our EMR at the core, boost efficiency, surface actionable data, improve disease surveillance, and improved patient outcomes. We are poised to transform healthcare delivery and usher in a more inclusive and better quality healthcare system for future generations.

If awarded the Elevate Prize, we will use it to scale the deployment of our Emergency Response Solution to support the public health authorities of more governments in Nigeria.

Artificial Intelligence is critical component of our Emergency Response Solution as it helps public health authorities model different scenarios during disease outbreaks. If granted, we will use the AI for Humanity Prize to improve our AI model for our Emergency Response Solution. We will also use the prize to introduce an AI component in our Electronic Medical Records solution that will provide additional insights about the operational, clinical and financial performance of health facilities.