LAS VEGAS -- Presenters at the Venture+ Final Pitch Competition were under a little more pressure than the speakers at other HIMSS16 sessions. Only one of the four would be chosen as the winner by a panel of judges who have deep experience in judging innovative startups.

The finalists were selected after a day of pitches on Monday from 18 companies and in front of a ballroom of attendees and a panel of judges, each company had an opportunity to sell their ideas and business model.

The company that won the judges over is Sansoro Health. CEO Jeremy Pierotti began with a straightforward elevator pitch: “Connecting to EMR’s is too hard, EMR integration takes too long. Our application, Emissary sets you free.” Pierotti said that Emissary makes it possible “to connect any software to an EMR.”

The product already supports Cerner, Meditech, Epic and Allscripts with more connections planned and provides API’s. That approach seems very timely. On Tuesday, the ONC National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo indicated strong support for the use of APIs to spur interoperability.

The first company on stage was Bright.md, pitching a solution to decrease the length of the most common primary care visits with its SmartExam software. The product allows patients to enter their symptoms before a physician meeting so the clinician spends less time interviewing the patient. The company claims its early adopters have seen a reduction of office visits from 20 minutes to 2 minutes with a reduction in provider cost of $80 to $15 per visit. CEO Ray Costantini said the company has closed $1 million in contracts over the last year.

Next up was Flow Health, pitching an operating system to manage care plans. The platform launched in Q3 ’15 and now covers 20 percent of Anthon’s Florida provider network. Alex Meshkin said the company’s Adia app is a hybrid of AI and human care coordination, using proprietary algorithms to learn and provide guidance to clinicians that will be aligned with reimbursement models.

The final presenter was VUCA Health which pitched MedsOnCue, a system to deliver prescription drug information directly to consumers, replacing the paper booklets in use today.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges, comprised of Caspar DeClerc, Norwest Venture  Partners; Bob Reese, Philips Healthcare Transformation Services; Aaron Flink, McKesson Ventures;

Rebecca Kaul, MD Anderson; Josh Lee, Deloitte; Dan Galles, Providence Ventures and Howard Burde, Howard Burke Health Law.

The Venture+ Forum audience was invited to text in their votes, and in that competition, Bright.md was the winner.

Twitter: @GusVenditto

This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.