Note: I had stopped writing posts in 2017. Started again in late-2024, mostly for AI.
It's not often that non-healthcare startups make it to the review list at Multiplyd. But the recent news about cloud storage mega-startup Box moving into healthcare is too tempting to ignore. Let's first talk about what Box does, and then dissect it's applicability to healthcare. Box is a cloud storage, file-share-and-sync company. It claims more than 8 million users and has taken about $284M...
Zweena Health provides a service to collect real-world paper medical records, digitize them and enter it into a Healthvault account. That way users can have a Personal Health Record (PHR) created for them, without dealing with multiple bricks-and-mortar medical offices. I've endorsed the validity of services offering such 'last mile' value propositions before. Note MotherKnows for getting...
When EHRs started showing up on the mainstream industry radar a couple of decades ago, everyone focused on how they helped get rid of the archaic paper records and digitized care delivery within organizations. How time changes perspective. Now EHRs are somewhat commodity and local, intra-organization workflow digitization is a bit passé. The buzz now are inter-organization workflows and health...
Among other things in healthcare, the care transition process is also broken. For example, outpatient care usually ends with the provider summarizing for the patient their medical issue, instructions on next steps, etc. Ideally, the key takeaways are given to the patient as printed handouts, prescription instructions. But as most of us who have been a patient would know that printed medical...
There is no denying that the usability of current EHRs sucks. More pointedly, the data entry is really excruciating. Blogs have been devoted to the rants, articles have been written. In fact, the problem is so real that entrenched luddites have spawned a cottage industry of 'Medical Scribes' - hired hands who do nothing but take physician's narrative and punch the keys on the keyboard to get it...
A startup that helps you access and retain your medical records (to which you are entitled) from providers. Another proof of how impenetrable and complex our healthcare system is. It's a brilliant niche. MotherKnows will interact with the healthcare system (your physician, hospital, insurer, etc.) on your behalf to procure a copy of the medical record, store it, analyze it and make the...
Specializations in care delivery are a natural evolution but they have the side effect of increasingly partitioning processes and, in turn, increasing cost and complexity of coordination. When patient care changes hands, it becomes susceptible to errors and communication failures. 'Transitions of Care' is the broader topic that covers problems that arise when patient moves between different care...
Accounting for only 7.2% employment in healthcare, Home Healthcare is perhaps one of the lesser known and advertised sub-markets in the industry. It serves patients who prefer to stay at home but need ongoing care that cannot easily or effectively be provided solely by family or friends. These providers deliver a wide variety of health care and supportive services like professional nursing,...
Here is a half-baked idea that adds another data point to my rant about how keeping a record of health-related activities is useful, and how web 2.0 technologies can help enable such a record. Bedpost is a web application (currently in private beta) that helps in keeping track of user's sex life. I've not used the site myself, but they claim simple functionality- log in after the fact and fill...
Practice Fusion is a web-based EMR & practice management system that is targeted towards private practices. SaaS-based EMRs are not new, but what sets Practice Fusion apart is its business model and lineage. Practice Fusion's is free. Free software, free hosting, free service. It is supported by 'non-intrusive' ads. They have figured out a way to utilize Google Adsense APIs in a way that is...