Note: I had stopped writing posts in 2017. Started again in late-2024, mostly for AI.
People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin in a similar way their pancreas would produce if it were normal. Older therapy used to be multiple daily injections, which were poor approximation of the insulin need. In Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (CSII) or Insulin Pump therapy, a small device delivers a constant stream of rapid-acting insulin through a tiny tube; according to a...
Docmein is an online appointment scheduling service focused on private practices. The value proposition is that providers and patients can both use this online service to request and confirm appointments without any software to install. Side benefits are timely email reminders and custom pages for patients and practices. It's a bit surprising that healthcare continues to get the onslaught of...
The long tail of rare medical conditions has mostly been an unexplored market. Office of Rare Disease Research at NIH defines a disease or disorder as rare when it affects fewer than 200,000 people in America. Another non-profit organization, the National Organization for Rare Disorders's database lists more than 6,000 rare disorders that cumulatively affect approximately 25 million Americans....
Currently there are a number of hardware-based solutions in the market that aim to help the patient take the right medication at the right time. The conventional options of boxes, organizers, dispensers, watches etc have been there for the longest time. The last few years have seen devices get a bit smarter with phone, internet, cellular connectivity and some built-in decision support (alerts,...
Patient Monitoring is one of the mature, established markets in healthcare industry. A promising trend in that is the emerging 'Remote Patient Monitoring' (RPM) paradigm. (If you don't know much about RPM, this 2009 report from Frost.com is one of most insightful ones out there. It requires paid subscription though). The underlying concept is nothing new in medical device industry, with it's...
Twitter seems to have legitimized the value behind aggregating real-time conversations from a large group of participants. Ironically though, even as twitter continues to find it's own business model, startups like TruthOnCall are applying the same fundamental concept to healthcare. Pharma, Media, Government organizations sometimes find themselves in dire need for a quick survey of licensed...
In July 1999, Jason and Charlotte Maude started Isabel Healthcare after their then 3 year old daughter Isabel was nearly fatally misdiagnosed during a hospital stay. They involved clinical experts to lead the research and development of a pediatric diagnostic decision support system, and in June 2002 Isabel diagnostic tool was launched. The tool that helped clinicians generate differential...
Doximity is a mobile-based social network for physicians. It brings back memories of Sermo, which was my first review, written more than two years ago. Doximity was started by Jeff Tangney who was also one of the co-founders of Epocrates- an extremely popular physician information tools vendor that recently filed for an IPO in July 2010. The free app is currently only available for iPhone...
Neurologic examinations are unique in medicine. Unlike other fields of medicine in which one can touch (surgery, orthopedics) or see the disease (eg, dermatology, ophthalmology), neurologic conditions often manifest in cryptic ways. Which is why simple clinical examination done with basic tools (reflex hammer, tuning fork, pin...) are always relevant for initial evaluation. Touch Diagnostics is...
Jitterbug Wireless is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) founded in 2006. They offer simplified mobile hardware and service targeted towards baby boomers, with the value proposition being the opposite of a feature-rich phone. Few big, buttons and great customer service are it's selling points for seniors who are looking for hassle-free wireless connectivity. Verizon Wireless is their main...