NorthJersey.com May 6, 2010, Michael Lamendola, Managing Editor
Dr. Vincent Grasso, who runs his company Waterfront Health Care Services, LLC out of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Business Accelerator inspects a tiny microchip and motion sensor he has integrated into his mobile information system platform. Applications include home physical therapy, interactive exercise, fall assessments, and many others.
Waterfront Health Care Services
(WFHCS) is a healthcare IT company bringing to market a proprietary leading edge
Grid Computing based platform designed to empower physicians to reenter the
“house call” practices of the past and deliver a wide range of integrated
services to the elderly, chronically ill, and economically disadvantaged. WFHCS is positioned to enable an
improved clinical outcome along with a more efficient financial model within
locations other than hospitals, clinics, and physician’s offices, such as the
home. The company has a favorable
first out advantage as there is a lack of competition within the physician based
home care delivery service model.
WFHCS was founded by Dr. S.
Vincent Grasso subsequent to his extensive healthcare IT related R&D efforts and
projects within the international community as a surgeon, software architect,
and business analyst. Recently, he
and his team received a multi-million dollar multi-year grant from the HIV AIDS
Bureau of Health Resources and Services Administration Special Projects of
National Significance (SPNS ). The
focus of this initiative involves enhancing access to and retention in quality
HIV care for women of color. Dr. Grasso will utilize the company’s
platform as Technical Lead, Solution Provider and Systems Integrator for the
grant.
The company is positioned to
take advantage of the sweeping changes that are currently underway within the US
as a result of the current administration’s focus on revamping the healthcare
delivery system. Market forces such
as the health of the nation along with technology, regulatory / policy, and
industry trends all favor the rapid acceleration and penetration of the company
into the marketplace. Consider the
following:
The costs associated with
healthcare may exceed $4 Trillion by 2015. Treating
the chronically ill accounts for more than 75% of the nation’s $2.5 trillion
medical care costs. Chronic diseases
also account for 70% of all deaths in the United States. The company is
focused upon frequent monitoring and intervention prior to a chronic disease
maturing into a complex and difficult-to-treat disease state.
The 2009 American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) / Health Information Technology for Economic and
Clinical Health Act (HITECH) will provide economic incentives for providers that
utilize Electronic Health Records (EHR) by 2010 and demonstrate “meaningful use”
and penalize those that do not by 2014. The company’s platform is compliant with
these regulatory trends empowering all WFHCS providers to benefit from the
stimulus package’s pledge of $44,000 per physician starting in 2011.
Health Enterprise Application
Integration Portals (HEAIP) will be hosted within Regional Health Information
Organizations (RHIO). They will
reside within a GRID Architectural Framework and utilize where appropriate High
Performance Computing (HPC). The
technology stack within WFHCS is operational and coincides with these trends.
The decentralization of
healthcare delivery that is currently underway within the US is focused upon
Disease Management, Medical Telephony, Comprehensive and Extended Home
Healthcare, and Healthcare Monitoring and Wellness Initiatives. The company’s portfolio of services
includes many of these initiatives.
The company is in discussions
with many potential strategic partners and distribution channel partners
including medical device manufacturers, public and private hospital chains,
academic medical centers, municipalities, and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs).
2Contact Waterfront Health Care Services