Homeward, a company committed to rearchitecting the delivery of health and care in partnership with communities everywhere, starting in rural America, announced it was awarded up to $12 million in research funding to serve as a lead performer for The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed and InteGrated Medical Care (PARADIGM) program. This program is a 5-year project to develop a scalable mobile platform that can bring sophisticated medical services – including perinatal care, advanced wound care, etc – outside of a hospital setting to the doorstep of even the most remote populations.
PARADIGM is funding part of Homeward’s Advanced Research Program, a cornerstone effort to advance healthcare solutions for rural communities with limited access. As AI and health technology continue to evolve, rural healthcare providers often face significant barriers to adoption due to a lack of solutions designed for their unique needs. Homeward’s new research and development initiative will bring technology specifically adapted to the needs of rural communities so that it will make a real difference in people’s lives in partnership with rural providers, academic centers, and other community stakeholders. Research and development projects led through Homeward’s Advanced Research Program are designed to make health technology more accessible, equitable, and impactful for the millions of Americans living in rural areas.
The PARADIGM program anchors this initiative by addressing the Advanced Research Program’s focus areas: workforce transformation, advanced therapeutic delivery, and distributed diagnostics. And the project will focus on defining clinical services, collaborating with technology partners to develop and implement solutions, and conducting clinical research studies with subcontractor grant organizations, including the University of Minnesota and Mobile Health Map (MHM) at Harvard Medical School.
MHM is a national collaborative that helps mobile clinics measure, improve, and communicate their impact. And MHM will focus on ensuring the PARADIGM care delivery model reflects the real-world needs of rural communities. The University of Minnesota will serve as a co-principal investigator, leading efforts to evaluate the PARADIGM program’s clinical effectiveness and effect on reducing healthcare disparities.
KEY QUOTES:
“Rural America faces some of the greatest healthcare challenges in our country, with higher mortality rates and limited access to essential care due to a shortage of hospitals, specialty clinics, and healthcare workers. At Homeward, our mission is to rearchitect the delivery of health and care in partnership with communities in rural America, and the PARADIGM program is a critical step in advancing this mission. With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and other health technologies, we have an opportunity to bring advanced medical services and specialty care directly to those who need it most – with the potential to leapfrog other markets – ensuring no community is left behind.”
- Homeward Co-Founder and President Amar Kendale
“Solving the rural healthcare crisis requires new approaches and ideas designed with rural communities in mind, which is the driving force behind Homeward’s Advanced Research Program. Through initiatives like PARADIGM, we’re developing and testing solutions with partners in rural communities where traditional healthcare models fall short. From improving how treatments are delivered to advancing diagnostic tools, our goal is to create scalable innovations that improve care delivery and accessibility in rural communities.”
- Vice President of Advanced Research Programs at Homeward Fred Barrigar
“The University of Minnesota is proud to partner with Homeward and advance the PARADIGM program to understand how we might best deliver care to rural communities in Minnesota. Research is critical to understanding what works and its impact so we can improve care delivery in meaningful ways. By turning insights into thoughtful programs, we aim to eliminate the healthcare disparities that rural communities have faced for far too long.”
- Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota and faculty in the Program for Health Disparities Research Dr. Elizabeth Rogers, who is leading the evaluation of this project
