Medical Simulation

About Medical Simulation

Founded in 1998, Medical Simulation Corporation (MSC) established itself as a provider of simulation-based training products and services for healthcare professionals. The Denver-based company focused on improving clinical quality and patient safety through hands-on education in a risk-free environment. Over its history, MSC raised a total of $42.1 million in funding over seven rounds, with its first round occurring in June 2001.

MSC's business model was centered on a product-based pricing structure, offering simulation training, education, and consulting services to healthcare providers, medical societies, and medical product manufacturers. The company served a wide range of professionals, including nurses, physicians, medical students, and technologists. A key part of its strategy involved establishing a network of institutional-based "SimSuite Education Centers," often in partnership with universities and hospitals, such as the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital. These centers allowed for broad access to its training curriculum, which could also be deployed directly to a client's location.

The core of MSC's offering was the SimSuite Education System, an interactive solution for professional healthcare education and assessment that mimicked real-life clinical scenarios. This system included courseware for various critical conditions like sepsis, stroke, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, as well as procedures in cardiology, general surgery, and emergency medicine. Key products included Compass, a platform for training on new medical product adoption, and Simantha, an endovascular simulation system featuring advanced fluoroscopic imaging and haptics (the science of touch). In a move to broaden its reach, MSC partnered with HealthStream in 2011 to distribute its SimSuite online courseware through the HealthStream Learning Center™.

In December 2017, the company's trajectory shifted when Mentice, a global leader in virtual reality-based interventional medical simulation, acquired MSC's Medical Products division. This transaction allowed Mentice to gain MSC's experienced US-based development team and product portfolio, including the Compass platforms. For MSC, the sale enabled a strategic pivot to concentrate exclusively on its Hospital Performance Improvement (HPI) division, which provides consulting and training focused on standardizing care and improving clinical outcomes.