WHAT:
A build-it-yourself, two-way text messaging system for healthcare workers.
WHEN:
piloted in 2008 in Malawi, Africa
WHERE:
Based in Waterford, Virginia
WHO:
Ken Banks, Josh Nesbit, Lucky Gunasekara, two others.
WHY:
FrontlineSMS:Medic gives health workers the ability to set up private, two-way communications networks using only its free open source software, a laptop, a modem, and a few cell phones. Enables patient follow-up in situations where logistics would ordinarily make this time-consuming and costly. Ideal for rural areas, but equally useful in urban settings. Does not require Internet access.
COST:
< $
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WHAT:
HealthLoop is a web hosted communications tool that facilitates daily, automated feedback between doctors and patients over email. Requires patient registration.
WHEN:
Launched in May 2009.
WHERE:
Distributed to primary care physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Five physicians currently experimenting in trial phase.
WHO:
Founded by Dr. Jordan Shlain of Current Health, Steve Cohen from Bebo.com (AOL).
WHY:
HealthLoop matters for four reasons. 1) Employs a communication platform doctors and patients already use, for a low barrier to entry 2) It allows doctors to collect condition data and statistics from patients with zero effort or intrusion into their clinical schedules. 3) It keeps patients connected to their physicians with minimal effort or intrusion. 4) Eliminates unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office, or ER.
COST:
$ Monthly sub-fee to doctors is $29.99, per seat. Free to patients.
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was privileged to be included in one of Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra's thought-leadership roundtables in Silicon Valley yesterday. (He also held a session on clean tech.) Chopra described this as a reconnaissance mission; his pursuit for new perspectives and alternative strategies for heatlhcare-transformation, "so we don't have to wait" for policy reform to be knitted up to advance the ball down the field.
healthspottr was privileged to participate in a HealthIT roundtable with Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra in Silicon Valley yesterday. This was a reconnaissance mission; Chopra's pursuit for new strategies and alternative perspectives on healthcare-transformation, "so we don't have to wait for policy reform" to advance the ball down the field, he said.
He assembled an impressive crowd, including: the Molly Coye, now CEO of CalRHIO; BCG's James Andrew; James Currier of Medpedia; Google's Missy Krasner; Clarence So of Salesforce.com; of Michael Reandeau of Sutter Health; Dana Mead of KPCB; 23andMe co-founder Linda Avey; conference guru Tim O'Reilly; and Judy Estrin, a director of Disney. Kaiser Family Foundation played host.
Before he left, Chopra made a committment "to do something in the next 90 days that will make a difference." Several ideas were tabled. We're not sure what he will choose as his stake in the ground. Below are are a few of yesterday's takeaways -- they'll give you an sense of some of the options he is considering ...
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As part of our debut, healthspottr recently hosted its first Innovation Salon. These will be monthly evening events, where we gather together a group of healthcare entrepreneurs, investors, industry executives and care providers, to discuss a current topic or challenge facing the industry over an intimate meal.
Our first dinner troupe addressed the challenges facing primary care, and in particular, the shortage of primary care physicians. The discussion benefitted from a broad-ranging guest list that included several of our inaugural future health 100. We've included a few video outtakes ...
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Once in a while in our Weekly Digest, we'll just toss in something from another source that we think is worth sharing. Our first winner is here. It comes from a San Diego-based designer named Robert Palmer.
So Palmer got his hands on a pdf of what claims to be a republican's graphical rendition of the House democrats' health reform plan. Horrified, and also offended for his profession, Palmer took up the task of improving the picture. The man is clearly gifted. His result is quite pretty, and even gives the industry the feeling of clarity. Original below. Palmer's improvement is on the jump.
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