More than 30 U.S. and Israeli companies attended as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBS) and the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region (AICC) held the first U.S.-Israel TeleHealth Business Exchange February 24-25 in Atlanta. The Exchange presented an unparalleled opportunity for emerging telehealth companies in Israel and the Southeast U.S. to present and hold pre-arranged, pre-qualified meetings with leading companies in North America. The goal was to foster joint venture R&D, investment and marketing alliances.

The U.S.-Israel TeleHealth Business Exchange was a unique peer-to-peer networking experience and innovative business matchmaking framework, and for the North American companies, a very concise and productive forum to gain advanced exposure to a wide range of cutting-edge telehealth technologies from Israel.

Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who served as honorary chairman of the event, said, “We are proud that the state of Georgia serves as a leader in the field of telehealth. This unique event created an excellent opportunity for Israeli technology companies to interact with major participants in Georgia’s healthcare market, and by extension, the entire United States.”

Oxendine is the founder of the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth and is a national advocate for the industry. He joined AICC on a business mission to Israel in December 2008 that included three events in different parts of the country to meet innovative telehealth companies.

The following companies attended:

• North American companies attending included: AT&T, McKesson, Medtronic, Polycom, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Chubb, Intel Healthcare, United Health, Emergency24, Medical Place, Clinical Solutions, Cox Communications, Seedium (VC), Telemedical Environments, IatroLinc Radiology, Fonemed, Critical Signal Technologies, Dixon Hughes, Croft & Bender, Emory Healthcare, AssistMed.

• Israeli Companies attending included: Nav4Life, Spirocor, Vaica, HMU, Commwell, Nexsense, CardioMEMS, Caring Technologies, Sensiotec, Sensible Medical Solutions.

The February TeleHealth Exchange provided:

• Exposure to a wide range of unique, cutting-edge technologies from Israel and the Southeast U.S. in a very concise and productive setting.

• Pre-arranged one-on-one “speed dating” style meetings to foster joint venture R&D, investment, marketing alliances, and other forms of cooperation.

• A forum for leading technology, operational, and investment, healthcare and communications/ information technology executives to network.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, presented the keynote at the luncheon on Feb. 25. He is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation, a high-impact collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money for all Americans.

TeleHealth Technologies

Technologies featured included those used by patients and/or their families to improve the management of chronic disease in the home:

• Patient-centric information systems

• Technologies for remote monitoring of physiologic parameters

• Technologies for monitoring the physical movement of patients in the home

• Technologies for providing education and instruction to patients

• Technologies that provide for interaction between the patient in the home and remote health care providers and/or family members

“Israel is one of the world’s most dynamic sources for high tech companies and with original and cutting edge technologies, particularly in the field of medical devices and information technology,” said Tom Glaser, president of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce.

Glaser added: “The challenge is that while many Israeli companies have created extremely innovative technologies and services, it is often difficult for the key industry players to notice and give them necessary attention. We created this event to help Israeli companies navigate the U.S. market, to bring the latest technologies to key players in North America, and out of a desire to better serve the critical healthcare challenges in our country.”

This event differs from a typical industry show or investor conference in that the participation is based on a pre-event matching procedure.

• AICC began with a list of emerging Israel-based telehealth technologies in Israel of significant interest to the industry.

• The Chamber identified a target list of U.S. organizations (health insurance companies, disease management companies, equipment/ infrastructure vendors, systems integrators, assisted living communities, state systems, industry associations, and VCs) that would have an interest in the targeted technologies.

• U.S. organizations were asked to identify technology areas of interest and will be asked to pre-select, from the prospect list, the emerging technology companies that they would like to meet with at the event.

• Emerging companies were requested to specify which major U.S. organizations they would like to see, and were included on the prospect list presented to the U.S. companies.

• The top fifteen emerging companies from Israel and the Southeast U.S. chosen through the pre-screening process delivered presentations at the event, followed by pre-arranged one-on-one meetings based on mutual interests.

• Keynote presentations by top policy and industry leaders and a networking reception were offered between the presentations and one-on-one meetings.

Israel Technology Industry Meets U.S. Healthcare Industry

Israel has produced over 4,000 start-ups in the past few years, and has a robust venture capital industry to support entrepreneurs. Excluding the U.S. and Canada, Israel has more companies publicly traded on the U.S. exchanges than any other country. Virtually every major U.S. technology company has development operations in Israel or investments in Israeli companies, including IBM, Motorola, Cisco, GE Medical, Siemens, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Microsoft, HP, and more. BIRD, a joint U.S.-Israel foundation, supports joint venture R&D projects between American and Israeli companies.

The U.S. has the world’s largest healthcare industry and is potentially the premier telehealth market. Atlanta is a major center for Healthcare IT and has several companies with established positions in homecare and telemedicine. Atlanta is home to McKesson’s Technology Solutions business, one of the nation’s largest healthcare services, automation and information technology companies, which acquired Israel-based Medcon in 2005 and successfully integrated its unique cardiology technologies worldwide. The Atlanta community has also spawned some of the major disease management and equipment and infrastructure vendors to the industry including Matria, WebVNC, Patient Care Technologies and more. Through Georgia Tech, the industry has access to state support and academic research resources for major corporations and emerging companies.

The U.S.-Israel Telehealth Business Exchange was presented by Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Georgia in partnership with the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Sponsors include McKesson, Delta Airlines, AT&T, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast, Intel Health, Polycom, and TechHealth World. The American Telemedicine Association (ATA), Disease Management Association of American (DMAA), Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth, Israel Venture Association, Galil Center for Telemedicine, Southeast Medical Device Association (SEMDA), Israel-America Chamber of Commerce, Haifa Municipality, TAG Healthcare, Georgia HIMMS, Georgia Bio, and Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute are organizational co-sponsors.

About the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce

The American-Israel Chamber of Commerce is a bi-national business association with the mission of increasing economic development by fostering understanding, cooperation, and business relationships between Israel and the Southeast. AICC is a proud affiliate of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

Since its founding in 1992, AICC has been involved in completed transactions valued at more than $950 million, creating jobs and benefiting the economies of both Israel and the Southeast. AICC targets a range of projects involving import, export, research & development, direct investment and joint ventures. Key areas of focus include software, telecommunications, cleantech, life sciences, real estate, and security.