Having founded the India-based Metamagics technology company, Anita Kulkarni Puranik saw firsthand the challenges both patients and doctors face during the organ transplant process when her husband was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. “As we started the daunting journey of the transplant process it became apparent to me the needs that weren’t being met not just by the patient, but the caregiver and the transplant center,” says Kulkarni-Puranik. A tech expert for many years, Puranik decided to put her expertise to use focusing on automating complex and time-sensitive workflows in managing transplants and a created a care continuity system to the make the whole transplant process move more quickly and efficiently to match donors, assist with follow-up and ultimately, save more lives.
“A few years ago, when my husband was going through this process, I could see how the doctors didn’t have easy access to all the reports and data they needed in one place to make patient decisions. Without all the data when doctors need it to make decisions, the treatment suffers and can lead to even more complications,” she explains. Unlike other treatments, organ transplanting is very long running and extremely dependent on seeing patients’ trends and very data intensive. And, with most patients returning home after the transplant, remote access to data and physicians became critical – even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having founded the Metamagics technology company, Puranik realized they had a data analytics platform that they could transform into a digital health and organ transplant care solution and created and marketed GridSense Health. GridSense Health (http://www.gridsensehealth.com) is a cloud-based system that tracks patients’ complete health condition and assesses the risks of complications both before and after transplant. It helps doctors follow up on patient appointments, speak with patients through audio or visual, and scan patient’s information enabling them to make immediate decisions based on what they see from the patient and read in their historical data. They can either create a new prescription with advice to patient in app or know to get to hospital and potentially avert a complication crisis. And the system generates timely and proactive alerts that make it easy to schedule events and track progress of their patients. GridSense Health has proven to contribute to a shorter cycle from referral to listing, keeping highly active pre-transplant waiting lists and more active engagement with post-transplant patients, resulting in a significant reduction in number of cases lost to follow up.
In 2019, Metamagics was selected as a participant in the Sustainable Health Initiative (SHI) through Yale Institute for Global Health. SHI’s business accelerator program focuses on health care startups addressing environmental sustainability, access to quality healthcare, maternal and child health outcomes, infectious disease, and health care technology.
Through the program they were matched with Yale faculty mentor Howard Forman, MD., Yale School of Public Health, and enrolled in a curriculum program that provided guidance on problem solving, fundraising, marketing, and other problems that entrepreneurs often face as they attempt to start or expand their businesses. Thanks to Dr. Forman, GridSense Health has expanded beyond India and is now involved in trials at the Yale New Haven Transplant Center. The YNHH kidney transplant center is focused on improving access to transplant to underserved populations is a big concern to the center. “- Thanks to the unwavering support we got from Dr. Forman, we now have an entry to the US market, establishing the global need for a solution like GridSense Health.” said Shetty who leads marketing efforts for Metamagics.
GridSense Health’s care coordination and active lists lead to higher rates of transplantation and reduced mortality and Forman thought this was a natural match. “It’s been a joy to work with Metamagics,” said Forman. “I’m so happy to I could play a tiny role in helping these extraordinary entrepreneurs with their dream to improve health and healthcare for those requiring transplants.”
“We are thrilled to participate in a study with YNHH and what we are building with Yale and hope this will be a template for other hospitals globally,” adds Kulkarni-Puranik.