Vecna Technologies

Vecna Technologies, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Healthcare IT, Software, Consulting
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Cambridge, MA
Products	The Patient Information Exchange (patient self-service), QC PathFinder (electronic infection surveillance software), VGo (telepresence)
Website	www.vecna.com

Vecna Technologies is a healthcare information technology company with products including the Patient Information Exchange and QC PathFinder. It shares its origin with an independent sister company Vecna Robotics that develops and applies robotics technology to logistics and industrial markets.

History

Vecna was founded by MIT alumni Deborah Theobald and Daniel Theobald,^[1] to provide consulting and systems integration services to the United States Military Health System and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The founders derived the name 'Vecna' from the Czech word věčný, fem. Vecna Technologies was founded in 1998 and has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Greenbelt, Maryland location closed in 2019.

In 2015, Vecna was awarded the Kinetic Process Innovation Award for providing patient self-service technology to Boulder Community Hospital.^[2] In 2015, the Robotics Business Review named Vecna one of the top 50 robotics companies to watch.^[3] In 2012 the company was awarded the Gold Massachusetts Economic Impact Award for Greater Boston by the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development.^[4][5] In 2012, 2014, and 2021, Vecna was named to the Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts by the Boston Business Journal.^[6][7][8] In 2011, the Small Business Administration selected Vecna as one of 44 recipients of the Tibbetts Award for driving innovation and creating jobs. ^[9]

After a series of close partnerships, in 2015, Vecna bought telepresence robot manufacturer VGo Communications and moved employees from Nashua, New Hampshire to Vecna's Cambridge offices.^[10] The company then split into Vecna Robotics (Cambridge MA), and Vecna Healthcare (Burlington MA) in 2019.^[11]

Products

Patient Information Exchange

Vecna's patient self-service system includes pre-registration, onsite registration, queuing, clinical messaging, e-forms, and business intelligence modules. The platform can be accessed by healthcare kiosks, personal computers, and mobile devices. Patients review their demographic information, verify insurance coverage, pay bills, and check in at the point-of-service or online. Patients who have completed registration activities online to check in with a barcode.

The American Hospital Association endorsed Vecna's self-service Patient Kiosk. ^[12] The Patient Kiosks are also being rolled out across the U.S. to medical centers of the Veteran's Administration. ^[13]

QC PathFinder

QC PathFinder is an infection surveillance software that automatically alerts healthcare professionals of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), pharmacy-related safety events, and facilitates reporting infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Health Safety Network (NHSN). ^[14] QC PathFinder also automatically generates clinically validated institutional antibiograms that inform clinicians on appropriate antimicrobial choices for pathogens within their hospital. ^[15]

VGo

Vecna acquired VGo in 2015. VGo is a robotic telepresence device that allows a user to log in from a distant location and to move around and interact with their environment as if they were physically there. VGo is active in the Education, Healthcare, and Business verticals.^[16]

Research

Vecna's research and development efforts have been funded by federal and state government grants and contracts, to both the Robotics and Health IT centric groups. ^{[17] [18]} These grants and contracts were focused on robotics platforms, infection control, antimicrobial stewardship, computer vision and machine learning, development of underwater tool systems, and web applications for pathogen surveillance and consulting time management.

Bear Robot

The sister entity Vecna Robotics developed the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (The Bear™).^[19] The Bear is outfitted with infrared cameras and can be operated remotely. It was originally designed to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield.^[20]

Vecna Cares

Vecna donates IP to the Vecna Cares Charitable Trust to develop the CliniPAK, a rugged electronic medical record for use by rural and underserved communities. The CliniPAK is a mobile health record system, including a server and solar charger. Vecna Cares is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. ^[21]

Notes and references

1. "Using robotics to supercharge health care". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2023-01-23. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
2. "2015 Kinetic Process Innovation Award Winners Announced". Marketwire. Kinetic Process Innovation Awards via MarketWire. Retrieved 2015-06-09.
3. "RBR50 Top 50 Robotics Companies to Watch". Robotics Business Review. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
4. "Ninth Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards Luncheon". Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development (MassEcon). Retrieved 2012-12-13.
5. "Mass. Economic Impact Award finalists". boston.com (The Boston Globe). Retrieved 2012-12-13.
6. "The BBJ announces its Top 100 Women-led Businesses of 2012". Boston Business Journal. 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
7. "Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts". bostonglobe.com (The Boston Globe). Retrieved 2014-10-24.
8. "Vecna Named as Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts 2021". vecnahealthcare.com. 2022-02-09.
9. "SBA Announces Winners of 2011 Tibbetts Awards". U.S. Small Business Administration. 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
10. "Cambridge-based Vecna Technologies acquires VGo, maker of telepresence robots". www.betaboston.com.
11. "Thank you for your interest in Vecna Technologies. Vecna has grown into two separate entities". Vecna. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
12. "American Hospital Association endorses Vecna Medical kiosks". kioskmarketplace.com. 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
13. "Veterans Authorizations and Preferences (VAPii), Work Effort Unique Identifying #20120112, Business Requirements Document from the Department of Veteran's Affairs" (PDF). U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. April 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
14. Stein, Carrie; Cook, Jennifer (2009). "Development of Computerized Algorithms to Detect Bloodstream and Urinary Tract Infections: Early Conceptualization, Validation and Factors Related to Adoption in by Infection Control Teams". CIN: Computers Informatics Nursing. 27 (5): 335. doi:10.1097/01.NCN.0000360478.15648.2d. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
15. "Validation of Electronic Antibiograms for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System". Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections. 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
16. "VGo". VGo Communications, Inc. 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
17. "Visually Guided Robotic Hand / Eye Coordination". U.S. Small Business Administration, SBIR program. 2010. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
18. "SBIR Phase I: High Performance Hydraulic Actuation for Mobile Robots". U.S. Small Business Administration, SBIR program. 2009. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
19. "Bear robot rescues wounded soldiers". BBC News. 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
20. "New Army technology could save soldiers' lives". CNN. 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
21. "Vecna Designs Mobile Health Systems for Rural Care". Xconomy. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2012-12-13.

External links

• Official site
• Vecna Cares