Note: I had stopped writing posts in 2017. Started again in late-2024, mostly for AI.
While the conventionalists argue otherwise, there is some truth to the fact that plenty of health conditions can be taken care of without actually seeing the patient in-person. Based on that assumption, AmericanWell offers an interactive service that lets patients talk to a physician in real time, anytime. The service went live in January this year and initially focusing on Hawaii. The basic...
PharmaSurveyor is a free service that analyzes your medications to point out potential drug interaction and side-effect risks. It was founded in 2006 by Linda and Erick Von Schweber to commercialize the 'knowledge surveying' technology they have developed over the last 25 years or so. Given the fact that Adverse Drug Effects (ADE) are one of the leading cause of death in the US, there is...
Online communities are nothing new to healthcare. What seems to be the trend is increasing vertical focus. Oncocentric (also called MedTrust Online) was launched in January 2009 as an online community for oncologists. Their aim is to help find, manage and share information by connecting oncologists with each other. They have other features like twitter updates, 'OncoAssist' panel of experts,...
As I mentioned previously, the hype of personalized medicine is breeding a new industry-direct to consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing. These companies offer to test, analyze and store your genetic information for you. Navigenics entered this arena in April'08, with some stellar credentials in terms of team, funding (KPCB, Sequoia among others) and collaborations (Mayo, Partners, Duke, Scripps,...
Consumerism is on the rise in healthcare, and MyMedLab brings that trend to the Lab testing space. With their service users can self-order wellness lab exams online and walk-in to the lab nearest to their zip code. Note that this doesn't include all possible lab tests, but only the subset that don't require direct physician order. The price they charge includes collection fee for sample draw,...
Simply put, icyou is the Youtube of health-related videos. It launched around September 2007 by BenefitFocus, a Charleston (SC) based healthcare benefits software provider. The name icyou stands for 'Intensive Content for Your Health'...a twist on the actual ICUs (Intensive Care Units). Basic idea is for icyou to be the exchange hub for patients, providers and caregivers to share their stories...
Good ideas are always simple. I'm really optimistic about the emerging simple tools that let consumers manage, monitor or understand their health issues better. ZeaLOG is a simple tracker that lets you measure anything, and report off it. The service seems pretty new and driven by a team of one, so there are some rough edges here and there. Most of the ZeaLOGs started are around profound topics...
Medpedia is an attempt to apply crowdsourcing concept to medical knowledge, just like Wikipedia. It launched in beta mid-February this year, with some big names backing it (Harvard, Stanford, NHS, AHA, ACP to name a few). The idea is to create a collaborative body of knowledge using physicians and Ph.Ds as gatekeepers. Anyone can contribute- physicians/Ph.Ds become directors editors (after...
Polka's mission is to make your up-to-date basic health information available to you all the time, on the web or your iPhone. They claim that their 'secure aggregation and collaboration service' can help users manage their health. Here is what they offer: My Health - An application to store your basic health information (allergies, meds, diagnosis, emergency contacts, and a twitter-ish 140 char...
Primary care is a frustrating experience for most patients as well as physicians. Patients find the experience inconvenient, borderline impersonal and hardly get access to any of their resulting information from the visit. Physicians are hard-pressed for time since they are mostly drowned in paperwork. Considering the rise in HSA, high-deductibles, and no-insurance it's logical that...