HealthPort

Sub-Saharan African countries lack reliable medical resources to deliver care consistently to patients in need. HealthPort aims to improve equitable access to quality medical care by using digitized solutions to efficiently manage care delivery and resource availability. Through clinician support and asset management we can decrease hypoxemia related deaths. 

According to recent estimates, every year about 120–156 million cases of hypoxemia occur globally with approximately 1.4 million resulting in death. More than 95% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries.  Clinicians constantly have to grapple with delivering care with limited resources and rely on traditional medical practices which further worsens patient outcomes.  

Lack of safe , effective and adequately functioning medical equipment directly correlates to weak health infrastructure and poor patient outcomes. Healthport mission is to address medical asset management using a triad approach - procurement assessment, clinician support, and capacity building of local technicians.

According to a recent study, 14% of Children admitted in Nigerian hospitals are hypoxic, 18% of under-five deaths are from pneumonia, which translates to one-sixth of the global pneumonia mortality rate and ranked 2nd globally.  Recent estimates also indicated that every year about 120–156 million cases of hypoxemia occur globally with approximately 1.4 million resulting in death. More than 95% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries.

HealthPort intervention aims to provide access to low cost medical oxygen device asset management and algorithm based care to simplify hypoxemia  management process for clinicians. The HealthPort (HeP) dashboard will be accessible to clinicians to improve care coordination and assist low resource clinics maintain mission critical equipment. 

A system that is less reliant on international support will influence the current statistics that shows that 40%-70% of medical devices and equipment in low resource settings are broken, unused, or unfit for purpose .

HealthPort hopes to improve patient outcome by driving care efficiency and relieving management burden in low resource settings. 

HealthPort is a web-based application that is accessible from any platform enabling clinicians to access treatment resources in real-time. Information to boost clinician confidence in rendering care and how to coordinate care for a higher-level referral will therefore be easily accessible thus improving door to management time and ultimately patient outcomes. 

In low-resource settings, medical equipment placement rarely prioritizes fit for use, user support, or preventative maintenance. Most types of equipment are donated by international agencies and they are either unfit for use or lack a periodic preventative maintenance plan(PPM). To prevent highly needed medical equipment from becoming redundant, HealthPort will use digital solutions to improve how clinicians are diagnosing and managing patients (clinical algorithm) while also taking ownership of medical equipment management using an RFID system/equipment database.

The HealthPort technology will allow clinicians to quickly identify patients in need of oxygen treatment and connect patients to an optimally functioning oxygen delivery device.  A single application/chatbot will connect health centers to management information, care coordination resources and equipment availability. 

HealthPort is reinventing efficiency in how healthcare is delivered in low-resource settings; this solution is value-based and patient-centered.

Our solution aims to reach clinicians, healthcare centers, and patients, especially pediatric and expectant mothers in low resource settings. Over 70% of hypoxia-related mortality happens in low resource settings and attributable factors include poor infrastructure and access to resources.

 In a Nigerian study published in January, 2021, only 5% (8% in the South, 2% in the North) of the health facilities included used pulse oximetry for patient care. 42% of Pediatrics wards in these facilities in the South had oxygen provision, while only 11% had in the Northern centres. Only 3 out of the 57 oxygen concentrator found produces medical grade oxygen (>85% purity). In order to understand the problem, we have liase with NGOs working in the field and made hospital visits to get first hand knowledge of the constraints. As stated in the studies we identified very poor infrastructure and expensive cost of services as the pry constraints of health facilities having optimum oxygen therapy available for patients. We are set to commence a 3month pilot to evaluate the implementability and viability of our solutions. This will afford us the opportunity to get the target population to contribute to the solutions and develop it to market fit. 

The HealthPort solution will enable clinicians to deliver fast efficient care to this population, decrease under 5 mortality and improve local access to medical oxygen without the cost constraints. Clinicians and health centers will have the opportunity to partner with HealthPort for an added service of care coordination on the HeP( HealthPort) dashboard.

Low to middle-income countries lack adequate health infrastructure to efficiently respond during a pandemic and in the regular day-to-day management of health issues. Improving the capacity of clinicians and creating an adaptable solution for clinical assessment and management pose to improve management time/outcomes and clinician confidence in recommended management.

HealthPort will be providing two solutions to this, access to management resources (Clinical algorithm) which will entail immediate identification of symptoms patterns that will alert the Clinicians in an event of outbreak. While our second solution of asset management makes required essential medical equipment ready for use for prompt management always.

HealthPort is currently launching its pilot in SouthWest Nigeria, partnering with local NGOs, the Ministry of Health, and 2 Health facilities so far. We will be working with approximately 50 pieces of medical equipment during our pilot, (some already mapped), training 50 clinicians on our oxygen management algorithm/pulse oximetry, and deploying 10 biotechnicians for asset management. The pilot is intended to last for 3 months. 

The HealthPort technology will allow clinicians to quickly identify patients in need of oxygen treatment and connect patients to an optimally functioning oxygen delivery device. Healthport will use a balanced scorecard to measure performance and output across HealthPort certified health centers and prioritize patient referrals via the HeP dashboard. A single application/chatbot will connect health centers to management information, care coordination resources, and equipment availability. HealthPort is reinventing efficiency in how healthcare is delivered in low resource settings promoting a solution that is value-based and patient-centered.

This solution can be adopted across low resources settings; research shows this is about 40,000 rural health centers worldwide with many of them exceeding the recommended WHO 1:600 doctor to patient ratio. Having clinical and device support will streamline management time, advise referral needs, and improve clinician efficiency. 

Our asset management strategy will optimise a LOT of redundant concentrators which will make cheap quality oxygen therapy available for a whole lot more population while our continuous preventive maintenance plan ensures sustainability. Our ability to scale to the level of placing equipment in high priority facilities on a lease to own basis is going to be another game changer with a assured catalytic output.

Currently, HealthPort is in its pilot phase testing out the asset management workflow; working with 2 healthcare facilities in Nigeria. A secondary-level health center and a standalone rural clinic. With projections to enroll 2 other health centers within a local government and reach over 200 patients in 3 months. Within 12 months, we expect to reach 10 healthcare centers, onboard 100 clinicians, enroll 150 medical equipment under our service plan and reach over 2,000 patients.  

Our specific measuring indicators are;

i. Adoption of Pulse Oximetry: Pulse oximetry is the foundation of appropriate oxygen therapy, its adoption as a compulsory part of every patient's vital sign check(5th check) ensures no case of hypoxemia escapes detection & unnecessary oxygen therapy isn't administered. Achieving this in our partner centres will be one of the primary indicator of achieving our targets. 

ii. Universal availability of Oxygen therapy: Availability and prompt provision of oxygen therapy to every patient that needs it irrespective of class and financial capacity in our partner facilities will be a measuring metric. 

iii. Reduction in Maternal and Children mortality ratio: This will be one of the primary indicator of us achieving our goal, a reduction of preventable death of mothers, neonates and under-fives by administration of oxygen therapy to stabilise them for the required clinical management to restore their health.

Healthport will use a balanced scorecard to measure performance and impact across HealthPort certified health centers and prioritize patient referrals to certified health centers via the HeP dashboard while monitoring hypoxemia diagnosis rates, door to management time, access to downtime procedures, and under 5 mortality rates.

3 Full-Time Employees, 5 Contractors, 3 Consultants/Advisors

Our team consists of clinicians, engineers, and software developers who have been confronted repeatedly with the impact of health disparities and unacceptable health indices of disadvantaged populations as a result of poor healthcare infrastructures in Nigeria. As a team, we bring extensive experience in patient management, product management, asset procurement, and design.  Our clinical team especially are passionate social entrepreneurs, who have extensive experience working in limited resources facilities in Nigeria and with track records in social impact in the healthcare and community development of underserved populations. Our team of advisors additionally has complementary skill sets that help propel our value proposition. 

Our Team lead is a female, and we have been very inclusive in bringing in new talents with diverse backgrounds to work with our team. All we require is a good fit for the talent or skill we need.

We believe that global health strengthening should provide sustainable solutions to all regions where these regions are also equipped to be self-sufficient. HealthPort addresses healthcare infrastructure to harness pandemic response and mitigate global risk. It is our belief that our mission aligns with the MIT Solve mission for global health. Our mission is to improve healthcare efficiency and patient outcomes while keeping proffered solutions affordable and accessible to the communities served. The MIT community also gives great advantages for networking, peer-to-peer learning, and other skills that will help hone our business model and improve growth opportunities. 

Global public health interventions through Oxygen access coalitions for LMICs give us reasonable confidence that our solution is not only needed but crucial to the success of some of the other interventions posed by public-private partners. For us at HealthPort, to adequately fill the huge gap seen in biomedical engagement in LMICs healthcare delivery, we will need key partners for wider adoption of use and seamless integration of our services. Mentorship by business development advisors, technology mentorship to create solutions that are scaled down to specific use cases, introduction in spaces where partners can help propel our reach and improve user trust can improve our team resilience. Lastly, connections and partnerships can help improve our access to opportunities that will help us recruit personnel and liaise with individuals with the skill sets necessary for aggressive scale.

Johnson & Johnson, Merck for Mothers, CHAI, UNICEF, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 

These organizations have already established extensive research and in-country network in Subsaharan Africa. We can build upon our credibility by liaising to achieve meaningful impact in hard-to-reach areas. The data available to these organizations also can allow us to hit the ground running without having to rinse and repeat. 

These organizations additionally agree that the lack of digital infrastructure and capabilities needs collaborative effort for well-tailored solutions. They also all offer solutions using digital technology to improve resilience in the health system and improve quality of care. Engaging with these organizations can position HealthPort as the local service carrier for all biomedical and equipment support for donated equipment.

Collaboration in such a space can significantly propel our mission and cause synergistic outcomes.

The majority of maternal mortality in sub-Sahara Africa, especially in rural settings is preventable, and one of the main issues is the lack of access to essential healthcare. Our solution when provided will make cheap and quality oxygen therapy available for girls and mothers that requires it as at when needed. This will keep more of our females alive as well as reduce their redundant time due to illness and lack of required healthcare. 

Winning the Innovation for Women prize will give us the ability to aggressively expand our solutions to cover more health facilities & will help us to be able to assist our partner facilities with solar UPS to power their Concentrators. 

Medical technology can improve health outcomes, improve female contribution to society and empower females to advocate for the type of healthcare rendered to their children.

Our team is qualified for The AI for Humanity Prize because our solution aims to use AI to improve clinician diagnostic abilities through CDDS while strengthening the healthcare infrastructure in rural communities with CMMS. Digital solutions to health care delivery and medical assets management will improve care efficiencies, decrease fragmentation in care coordination. The added benefit of connecting patients and clinicians with ready-to-use medical equipment through our HeP dashboard, which is going to be a bridged version of CDDS & CMMS, we believe, is a game-changer that will optimize access to quality healthcare.

As reported, 95% of deaths from pneumonia globally are from sub-Sahara Africa, and a larger percentage of this occurs in rural & semi-urban areas. A half or more of these are from complications from malaria. Oxygen therapy availability at every time needed will be a lifesaver for many of the kids and women lost in the battle with malaria. Therefore we see oxygen as an essential commodity required to be available in these hinterland health centers/facilities. 

Our asset management system is primarily to keep track of the availability of the essential commodity, oxygen, by ensuring the equipment required for this are working and kept in that optimum condition every moment of the year. In addition, our digital tracking system will help Community Health Workers to keep us abreast of the condition of the equipment and others available around it. 

If we are selected for the Global Fund Prize, we will use the prize to execute specifically a rural and slum Oxygen intervention project, which will be primarily equipping PHCs in this strata with Oxygen therapy equipment. This will include standalone oxygen Concentrators with a dedicated power source, ancillary equipment like pulse oximeters and nasal cannulas—community health workers oxygen therapy training  & onboarding of every center covered to our subscription plan.