I keep getting asked what a VynMed pilot actually looks like from a facility's perspective. Here's a plain-language walkthrough of the week a new pilot site enters.
Monday of week 1. I arrive at the facility with two VynScan units, a case of the first-month supply of compatible test strips, and a binder with the pilot protocol, the data collection sheets, and a short training guide. I meet with the DON and whoever she has designated as the pilot point person. We spend 30 minutes walking through the device: how to turn it on, how to seat the cartridge, how the read works, how the result gets back to the dashboard, what to do if a read comes back invalid.
I don't do a formal training class for every staff member. The DON knows her facility better than I do and picks the right moment for an in-service. My job on Monday is to get the champion ready to be the champion.
Tuesday and Wednesday of week 1. The champion trains the rest of the staff in whatever format the facility normally uses for in-service training. That's usually a 20-minute huddle at shift change, repeated across shifts. Staff members practice reading a handful of calibration strips I've provided. Nobody uses VynScan on a real resident until the champion signs off that the team is comfortable.
Thursday or Friday of week 1. The first real read happens. Usually it's scheduled, routine screening on a new admission, or a follow-up on a recent recovery. The champion supervises. I'm available by phone. If the read works cleanly, we move on to normal use. If there's any hesitation, we slow down, re-read the protocol, and try again.
Weeks 2 through 12. The facility uses VynScan for whatever routine infection screening it already does. No new clinical workflow is introduced on top of what the facility already runs. We don't require them to test more residents or more often than they otherwise would. We just replace the paper-and-wait step with the scan-and-logged step.
Every Wednesday during the 12-week pilot, I do a 30-minute data review call with the DON or the champion. We look at the week's reads, any invalids, any questions from staff, and any operational friction. Three out of four weeks, the call ends early because nothing interesting happened. That's the point. The device is supposed to disappear into the workflow.
Week 6. Midpoint check-in. I come back to the facility for an in-person hour with the DON and the medical director. We pull the dashboard up together and look at the six-week trend. We talk about anything that's come up. This is the moment where the facility decides whether to keep going or to pull the plug. We've never had anyone pull the plug, but the option is there in the pilot agreement.
Week 12. Final data pull. I sit down with the DON to co-author a short case study. The facility has editorial review, nothing gets published without their approval. Then we decide together what happens next: continued use at a commercial rate, expansion to the facility's sister sites, or a quiet end of the pilot with the case study on file.
No exclusivity, no multi-year commitment, no strings beyond the 12 weeks. $2,500 flat for the whole engagement, strips and support included.
The reason the pilot is structured this way is that I don't think any SNF should take on operational risk to help a startup. If the device is going to earn its place in your facility, it should do that on its own merits, visibly, in the first 12 weeks. If it doesn't, the pilot ends on schedule and nobody owes anybody anything.
I'm looking for three pilot sites in the Las Vegas area right now.