The state’s largest health systems are looking to startups for solutions to some of their most pressing issues, including what to do with all the new information being collected.

Representatives of Marshfield Clinic Health System, Advocate Aurora Health and UW Health spoke yesterday for a “reverse pitch” event at Lambeau Field. The panel was held by the Wisconsin Technology Council as part of this year’s Tech Summit.

Ryan Natzke, chief external affairs officer for MCHS, highlighted two main areas in which the health system is seeking innovation: price transparency and virtual care.

“How do we get to the point where we can give somebody a reasonable estimate before they go in to see their physician? Nobody does that,” Natzke said.

On the virtual care side, he says MCHS wants to upgrade its existing remote care platform to reach a more “seamless” virtual experience.

“Anything in that area is something that we’re interested in,” he said.

Thomas ‘Rock’ Mackie, chief innovation officer at UW Health, said the system’s procurement manager is looking for big ideas in the field of artificial intelligence.

“A-I is going to be extremely important, because they’ve got a ton of data and it’s very difficult to mine it,” Mackie said.

People are adding to this treasure trove of data all the time, through their own wearable devices. Mackie notes many companies have sprung up with various wearable tech, “but that still seems to be something that’s interesting to providers.”

UW Health is also interested in startups working with blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. But it can be used for many other applications, including secure data storage, Mackie added.

“And anything that addresses physician burnout; I think that’s a big problem,” he said. “In fact, I think some of the electronic health records systems promote physician burnout.” Read the full story here.