Tech RX: The Heart is Where the Tech Is

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Outcomes Rocket's podcast series! In this episode, Saul Marquez sits down with Filip Peters, the CEO of Acorai, and dives into an intriguing corner of the healthcare device management world. Acorai is on a mission to develop a non-invasive heart failure monitoring device, and Filip talks with Saul at length about his journey from finance to healthcare tech, highlighting the many twists and turns along the way.

Acorai started in Sweden in 2019 with the idea that it would allow patients to remotely monitor their heart data, whether they’re at home, at work, or even traveling. Heart failure is a substantial health problem around the world, with 1 in 6 patients ending up hospitalized each year, and many others left unable to pay for helpful invasive surgeries. So Filip was inspired to design Acorai, a system that offers a visual and non-invasive way to gather a patient’s blood flow and heart electrical data in real-time. What’s super cool about the tech is that it uses a handheld sensor, about the size of a smartphone. It combines seismic, acoustic, visual, and electrical sensors, then gives insights from its proprietary Machine Learning Engine, which is trained on large external clinical datasets.

After sharing the deets on Acorai’s unique tech, Filip goes on to chat about the many varied complexities within the healthcare industry, especially those regarding tech, and the importance of staying focused on the end goal and nimbly overcoming any challenges that pop up along the way. He also spills the beans on how Acorai manages its devices during its clinical trial process, and how it leaned on strategic partnerships like Esper to stay compliant and secure.

And while Filip, Acorai, and healthcare experts stay focused on the technology that helps save patients’ lives, Esper steps in to take care of the heavy lifting on the backend. The Esper platform takes care of rolling out hardware deployments, software updates and troubleshooting, and keeping everything secure and compliant. All Filip’s team needs to do is update its software as needed on the Esper Dashboard, and focus on securing FDA clearance, scaling its fleet, and working on other great new ideas.

Saul and Filip conclude their discussion by getting into the nitty-gritty of hardware obstacles, supply chain headaches, and future plans for Acorai's device iterations. Filip drops some wisdom on the value of having advisors from different fields, along with all the lessons learned from seasoned pros who are already succeeding in the medical device game. You won’t want to miss that part, for sure!

Overall, this episode is a candid convo about the highs and lows of building life-saving medical tech, with Filip dishing out wisdom for startups navigating the maze of hardware innovation. From persistence to partnerships, it's a rollercoaster ride of insight into tackling healthcare challenges head-on.

This episode of Outcomes Rocket is the fourth in a five-episode series that has come out over the past few weeks, and be sure to keep an ear out for the final episode as it continues to cover great topics like security and compliance, healthcare tech, and more.

You can check out EP04 right here: