Healthcare startup MediView cuts time to market by up to 70%, despite pandemic

Holograms and patients—together for the first time

Now that doctors and their patients have gotten used to telemedicine visits, they’ll need to start preparing for what’s next: tele-procedures. This breakthrough comes from a startup called MediView. The company may be new but it has some hefty partners: the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic and Microsoft Industry Solutions. MediView’s product, the Augmented Reality Surgical Navigation platform, is designed specifically for the removal of cancerous tumors. 

The 3D hologram that is either projected directly on top of the patient’s anatomy or floats above the surgical site is based on live feeds and analysis of sensor and biometric data from technology such as ultrasound. The hologram is viewed through a Microsoft HoloLens 2. Because both the 3D imagery and the patient are in view at all times, surgeons don’t have to continually shift their attention between the patient and a mounted display screen. And because the images are 3D, they convey far more useful navigation information than traditional 2D imaging. With the surgical site view, the surgeon can utilize the HoloLens 2 to gain “X-ray” vision into the patient for a 3D view of the patient’s anatomy under their skin. Additionally, MediView enables remote collaboration during surgical procedures via Microsoft Teams. Through the unique integration of MediView’s proprietary solutions, HoloLens, and Teams, a remote participant can see through the eyes of a practitioner and collaborate through voice, video, and annotation. This has become increasingly valuable during post-COVID scenarios.

As part of the FDA clearance process, the Augmented Reality Surgical Navigation platform has already been used in closely monitored test procedures. Early trials suggest that the solution can reduce overall procedure time and improve patient outcomes by minimizing the invasiveness of procedures, while also reducing radiation exposure. It improves on-the-spot clinical decision-making by giving surgeons more useful, real-time views of their patients.

But one of the more intriguing benefits is what MediView Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder John Black calls “the democratization of medical procedures.” The new economics and access possible with this solution will help bring surgical expertise to places that currently may have relatively little of it, such as rural hospitals. Remote sites could run the platform as a cloud service, eliminating the multimillion-dollar hardware expense of today’s imaging, and enabling collaboration with distant experts in real time to help guide procedures.

The startup that succeeded, despite the pandemic

The story of MediView is as notable as its product. As a startup, the company confronted common development challenges with modest resources. While that alone sinks many startups, MediView faced an even larger challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck at the beginning of the development process, making it impossible for developers to meet in person. 

MediView overcame that challenge with the help of the powerful partner in its corner: Microsoft Industry Solutions. “Unlike other partners we considered, Microsoft Industry Solutions understood us, saw where we had the expertise and where we needed their help, and met us exactly at our level,” said Adam Rakestraw, Chairman and co-founder of MediView. “They ‘taught us how to fish’ and we went deep-sea fishing.”

MediView understood mixed reality but needed its solution to operate flawlessly despite its many interconnected components. “Microsoft showed us best practices and how to optimize our solution,” says Mina Fahim, Chief Technology Officer at MediView. “We needed guidance, so we went to the source.”

Black and his colleagues thought they might have to hire private jets to keep development teams working together when commercial flights were canceled. Instead, Microsoft quickly helped the development team get up and running on Microsoft Teams, and even established MediView as a federated team with Microsoft to make collaboration between the two companies as easy and seamless as possible. They held brown bag lunches, regular meetings, and ad hoc question sessions to share the information that MediView needed when it needed it.

“Microsoft is like a Swiss Army knife,” says Greg Miller, Chief Information Officer at MediView. “Our Microsoft team knew all the answers—or, if they didn’t, they knew exactly who at Microsoft would, and put us in touch with the right person right away. We couldn’t have gotten that resource access anywhere else.”

Stretching the startup dollars

As a startup, MediView had particular needs—and Microsoft for Startups fit the bill. Under the highly targeted program, MediView got a range of technological and business benefits that stretched its startup dollars further than executives could have imagined, including a year or more of credits for Azure, licensing, developer tools, and more.

“As a startup, there are some options you don’t pursue, or don’t pursue as fully as you might, because you lack the budget,” says Fahim. “But Microsoft removed those barriers to entry. It eliminated the need for much of the development work we’d have done on our own to get to the best options. We stood up virtual machines at a great discount. We could explore alternatives in Azure without worrying about usage fees.”

The company estimates that it avoided up to 12 months of development time thanks to Microsoft—getting its product ready for FDA submission in just eight months, a savings of up to 70 percent.

Once FDA clearance is received, Microsoft will help to amplify MediView’s business development efforts with its One Commercial Partner activities. That will include showcasing MediView’s solution at the healthcare-focused Microsoft Technology Center in Chicago, introducing MediView to Microsoft healthcare customers, and more. 

“Lots of startups got slammed by the pandemic,” says Black. “But we had the partner we needed to continue and even accelerate our innovation. Microsoft isn’t just helping us access the market; it’s helping us create the market. We couldn’t have done what we did, as fast and as well as we did, without Microsoft.”