The idea is at once exhilarating and scary: A house call by your physician without the physician actually coming to your house, the visit enabled by technology being developed in Rhode Island by Nalari Health LLC.

As groundbreaking as the concept is (and it’s not that scary, since a nurse would be visiting and examining the patient and following instructions sent online in real time from the attending physician), Nalari is not alone in making medical-technology breakthroughs in the Ocean State, a fact that the state’s leadership should keep in mind as they set priorities for economic development.

According to the Slater Technology Fund, there are nearly three dozen medical-technology businesses in various stages of development in Rhode Island, in no small measure thanks to help that Slater, along with the R.I. Science and Technology Advisory Council, the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition and the federal Small Business Innovation Research program have provided.

A recent event organized by Slater to facilitate networking among the local medical-technology innovators showcased one of Rhode Island’s competitive advantages in the global marketplace for medical-technology breakthroughs – its size.

The closeness of the entrepreneurial community and its synergistic relationship to the state’s medical/educational sector put Rhode Island on a par with any number of medical-tech centers in the United States. And the stronger these connections are, the more innovation – and job creation – will take place, a fact that a state with nearly 11 percent unemployment should keep top of mind. •