Inspire Medical Systems Invests in EnsoData and Ognomy

Inspire Medical Systems Inc. is bolstering its digital platform with investments in two private companies—EnsoData Inc. and Ognomy Inc. 

“These partnerships emphasize our focus on developing a digital platform to help patients navigate their journey to an effective solution for their OSA, such as Inspire therapy,” stated Tim Herbert, Inspire Medical Systems president and CEO. “As we expand our Advisor Care Program, we understand that long sleep study wait times are a challenge for many patients. We need innovative solutions to help patients quickly, conveniently, and accurately assess the severity of their OSA and subsequently connect appropriate patients with a qualified healthcare provider to consider treatment options, including Inspire therapy. These investments will allow EnsoData and Ognomy to more rapidly grow their respective businesses, which will benefit Inspire’s ability to more broadly leverage their technologies.”
 
EnsoData increases sleep lab capacity and efficiency with its U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved sleep study analysis platform, EnsoSleep. Using waveform Artificial Intelligence (AI), EnsoSleep automates the scoring and analysis of polysomnography (PSG) and home sleep testing, freeing clinician time to focus on patients. Further, EnsoSleep analyzes sleep test waveform data to provide accurate sleep staging and event detection for clinician review. The technology integrates with the sleep labs’ existing software and diagnostic devices, automatically analyzes and scores sleep studies, and requires no change to existing clinical workflows. EnsoSleep is currently available in more than 500 U.S. sleep centers and analyzes over 30,000 sleep studies per month. Inspire’s minority investment in EnsoData is $10 million.
 
Ognomy was built by sleep physicians to increase access to sleep apnea care by shifting diagnosis and treatment from the clinic to patients’ homes. The Ognomy app provides the interface between the patient and a sleep physician, while the Ognomy web portal allows clinicians to see and manage patients from any location. Following a digital consultation, the physician can order a home sleep study to be sent directly to the patient. Typically, the patient can receive a completed sleep evaluation and clinician follow-up in just a few days. Inspire provided seed funding to Ognomy to further develop its platform and to initiate a pilot program intended to support its integration with the Inspire Advisor Care Program.
 
More than 20 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and many go undiagnosed or untreated due to limited capacity for specialty sleep care. Convenient access to sleep specialists through Ognomy and efficient, accurate scoring from EnsoData both play an important and emerging role in increasing sleep practice capacity to address this growing health challenge. 
 
“Using AI technology to support sleep physicians in the collection and prompt analysis of sleep data in the patient care pathway enhances the patient’s experience and increases the physician’s efficiency, thereby adding capacity to their practices,” added Herbert. “Finally, these tools provide clinicians insight into patients diagnosed with moderate to severe OSA who are not currently receiving adequate therapy, thereby identifying potential patients in need of therapy adjustment or alternatives, such as Inspire.”
 
Inspire Medical Systems develops and commercializes minimally invasive solutions for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Inspire’s proprietary Inspire therapy is the first and only FDA-approved neurostimulation technology that provides a safe and effective treatment for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. 
 
Based in Madison, Wis., EnsoData is a Waveform AI healthcare technology company that performs complex and time-consuming data interpretation and analysis. Its FDA Cleared, AI-assisted sleep scoring solution, EnsoSleep, automates the scoring of studies, and reduces the time RPSGTs spend scoring. This time savings provides clinicians with opportunities to expand patient care, improve outcomes and treat more patients. EnsoSleep’s additional products include EnsoViewer, an FDA cleared, web-based, sleep study reviewing, editing, and reporting software, and EnsoTST, which enables measurement of Total Sleep Time through more commonly available data found in HSATs.
 
Ognomy is based in Buffalo, N.Y.