New $100M fund seeks to spur tech innovation, reduce healthcare costs

Gary and Mary West, co-founders of the West Wireless Health Institute, have formed the West Investment Fund, a $100 million investment fund that will provide risk capital for innovative healthcare technology companies that offer the potential to lower the cost of healthcare.

The San Diego-based West Health Investment Fund's initial portfolio includes:

• Biological Dynamics, a diagnostics technology company whose technology helps physicians detect cancer from a blood draw and intervene;
• Change Healthcare, whose web-based decision support tool Transparency Messenger provides consumers with personalized views of pricing information and alerts on where to save money on routine healthcare services including medical, dental and prescriptions;
• goBalto, whose web-based tools help to simplify pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device clinical research;
• Healthsense, whose in-home monitoring sensors and tools alert family members and providers of potential health problems before they become acute;
• Humedica, a clinical informatics company whose analytics for healthcare organizations deliver a view of patient care; and
• Sotera Wireless, whose vital signs monitoring helps the safety of patients on the general floor of hospitals.

The fund's areas of interest include healthcare technologies, data analytics, technology-enabled services, cost transparency and interoperability. Gary and Mary West will not individually profit from the investments made by the West Health Investment Fund, committing returns instead to medical research, the investor added.