Crumb wants to solve a really tough problem: untangling the mess of patient data in order to save lives.

“Hospital errors are the second leading cause of death in the U.S.” said Luis Lopez, Co-founder of Crumb, based out of The Exchange in Omaha. “It’s not because we have bad doctors or nurses. It’s because the technology used to find patient data is complex, outdated and unorganized.”

Lopez and the Crumb team hope to help solve this issue with their platform that connects hospital data systems together.

“We’re building a platform for hospitals that allows doctors and nurses to access entire patient records across multiple systems within a matter of seconds,” Lopez said. “The platform also allows doctors and nurses to share the data with multiple hospitals, which is crucial when patients transfer.”

The idea for Crumb started about two years ago when the team was working on their past project, Cardiosys.

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“We started in corporate wellness and we’re essentially using the same platform we had,” Lopez said.

Startup challenges

Lopez explained that it is hard for startups to break into the healthcare industry because of the time it takes to get approval from hospital review boards, versus how much time a startup actually has to succeed.

The team even started a new project focused on immunization scheduling because of the long wait for Crumb’s approval on another project. Lopez explained that from the time one agrees on contracts and pricing there is still a 9 to 18-month window for approvals when working with hospitals.

“The most difficult hurdle to overcome is the political aspect of hospitals,” Lopez said. “Data is only valuable when it becomes information. Otherwise it’s just sitting in databases.”

What’s next

Lopez explained that the biggest milestone Crumb reached in 2015 was their partnership with their strategic investor who is well-known in the healthcare industry.

“He was heavily involved with the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, so he is very well-connected and helped us get connections we couldn’t get on our own,” said Lopez.

The team is currently working on a statewide initiative that would have 12,000 physicians using Crumb by the end of the year.

“We really want to contribute,” Lopez said. “We are thinking about how can we use the little talent we have, put it to good use and actually make a positive impact on humanity.”

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Melanie Lucks is an intern for Silicon Prairie News and AIM Careerlink.