At ACEP 2024 in Las Vegas, the Emergency Medicine Innovation Collaborative (EMIC) joined forces at HackED!, an event bringing together innovators, entrepreneurs, and emergency physicians committed to shape the future of emergency medicine for three days of ideation to develop hardware or software solutions to a pressing acute care problem.

More than simply a hackathon, HackED! proved to be an immersive experience where innovation intersects with real-world, practical applications. Here’s a breakdown of what ACEP’s HackED! team learned from hosting the October event, alongside takeaways for its potential to shape emergency care.

Nicholas Stark, MD, MBA, speaks at the HackED! event at ACEP24 in Las Vegas. The concept of using innovation and technology to solve a real health care problem made its debut as a hack-a-thon at ACEP15 in Chicago. It has grown significantly in the past decade and includes a speaker series, hack-a-thon, innovator meetup and more.

1. Fostering a Culture of Innovation: Innovation is not a solo endeavor. Through HackED! and the innovation space, teams and spectators saw how critical it is to foster a space where ideas can flow freely. The virtual speaker series before the event set the tone by revealing that innovation can and should be woven into the fabric of daily clinical work. The culture of emergency medicine, known for its adaptability and problem-solving nature, is ripe for creating and integrating new technologies and approaches. The team carried the momentum of the speaker series into the conference itself, featuring speakers like Jesse Pines, MD, MBA, FACEP (US Acute Care Solutions), Tim Sweeney, MD, PhD (CEO of Inflammatix), Hamad Husainy (CMO of PointClickCare), and innovators from the EM Data Institute panel, who continued the conversation around quality innovation in emergency care.
2. Real-World Impact: Innovator Meetup and PitchER Event: Hosting in the HackED! Innovation Space, an Innovator Meetup and PitchER event, provided a networking opportunity for acute care innovators while giving three emergency physician-founded companies a platform to share their groundbreaking ideas. Ring Rescue, Ivy Clinicians, and Monumedical pitched their early-stage companies, showcasing solutions that can address critical challenges in emergency medicine. One key takeaway from the Innovator Meetup and PitchER event was the significance of aligning these innovations with clinical workflows. For example, Ring Rescue’s device, designed to aid in removing stuck rings, could be a game-changer for emergency departments, addressing a common yet time-consuming problem. The pitches demonstrated how critical it is for startups to understand the environment they are innovating for deeply.
3. Harnessing the Power of Collaboration: The Hackathon: The heart of HackED! was the hackathon that culminated in a pitch competition, where four dynamic teams – risk:Benefit, Nadv:Rx, HoloVits, and Healthcare Alliance for an Equitable World – competed with innovative solutions to solve pressing healthcare challenges. The teams were diverse and used multidisciplinary approaches to the problems they worked on solving. It underscored how health care innovation thrives at the intersection of disciplines, from clinical practice to tech. The hackathon also emphasized the value of mentorship. Teams had access to experienced innovators and physicians, who helped bridge the excitement of raw ideas with the practicalities of implementation.
4. Creating Opportunities for Early-Stage Innovators:This year’s HackED! introduced an exciting new feature: the Emerging Company Showcase. Featuring seven exhibitor booths at a more affordable rate, this initiative provided early-stage acute care startups with invaluable access to the ACEP24  exhibit floor – an opportunity they might have otherwise missed due to the financial hurdles faced by startups in their formative stages. This year’s showcase included Ivy Clinicians, Ethos Medical, Care Cubes, SonoStik, Vita Innovations, Accel Health and HealthCare Alliance for an Equitable World.
5. Leveraging Partnerships to Bring HackED to Life: HackED! would not have been possible without the incredible support of partners, sponsors, and speakers. Collaboration among organizations like the EM Innovation Collaborative and ACEP, corporate sponsors who provided financial support and prizes, and insightful contributions from our speakers played a pivotal role in making the event a success. These partnerships reminded us that health care innovation is a collective effort. It takes the support of many to drive change, whether through funding, offering expertise, or providing resources. Moving forward, it is crucial to ensure that every innovation – whether a new medical device or clinical tool – addresses disparities in care and serves our patients. By working together, we can achieve meaningful advancements in emergency medicine that benefit everyone.
6. Innovation Beyond the Event: The innovations and ideas generated at HackED! go beyond the event itself. By creating a platform that nurtures fresh ideas and connects them with emergency medicine leaders and innovators, we are helping to build a sustainable ecosystem for ongoing innovation. The key to maintaining this momentum is collaboration. The connections made at HackED! have the potential to lead to long-term partnerships, continued mentorship, and the practical application of the solutions pitched during the event.
7. Shaping the Future of Emergency Medicine: Hosting HackED! shows that innovation is more than developing creative solutions to complex problems. It is about cultivating a supportive environment where creativity thrives so that new ideas can flourish. From the speaker series to the hackathon, HackED! demonstrated how powerful it can be when emergency physicians come together with innovators to address our clinical practice challenges.

As we move forward, the Emergency Medicine Innovation Collaborative and ACEP remain dedicated to fostering these connections, building on the momentum from HackED!, and inspiring innovation to improve patient outcomes and advance equity in care. We are excited to see how the ideas are born at HackED! will evolve and contribute to the future of emergency medicine. See you next year!