Medical Startups Are Bringing Doctors to Your Smartphone

From prescriptions to psychiatric consultations, many startups are attempting to disrupt the medical industry by bringing services directly to the smartphone.

“Telemedicine” is becoming an industry unto itself, and could have some substantial ramifications on the medical industry. Through telemedicine, doctors can better serve areas that have no direct medical care. Patients are able to acquire medical care without waiting, and medical facilities are able to operate with lower overhead. As everything else is moving to the cloud, it only makes sense that medicine move there as well.

Delivering a Digital Doctor

Doctors on Demand is a platform through which patients are able to see doctors through video chat. Doctors are able to send prescriptions to pharmacies that are close by the patients, and may also be able to determine whether a patient may need lab work as well. Ultimately, the goal of this is not only to streamline the healthcare system, but also to put the patient more in control of their own health. In the United Kingdom, apps such as Babylon’s “GP at Hand” are able to provide similar services. Of course, the problem is adoption.

Lantern is a mobile app that’s intended to provide on-demand psychological care, including professional, expert guidance and personal coaching. FirstOpinionApp provides a free “first opinion” from real doctors 24/7, with an upgrade available for treatment. On a broader level, Patient.io provides a platform that can provide comprehensive data management throughout a patient’s care, thereby making it easier for them to understand their care options, and to acquire the care that they need. Many of these companies have less than 50 employees and it’s roughly estimated that they have a $4.7 million average valuation.

As one of the first start-ups within the industry, Doctors on Demand has moved into the “generating revenue” stage. Many of these other companies may be moving into more profitable years shortly, especially as online medical care starts to become standard. With adoption being the primary problem, all that really needs to happen is the normalization of interacting with doctors through the phone. As insurance concerns, medical billing issues, and technology issues are ironed out, patients will become more interested in the advantages that a “digital doctor” can bring into their home.

Medical Tools Are Getting “Smarter”

Some medical startups are actually producing medical tools rather than medical services. Take Kinsa Health, a San Francisco-based startup that produces smart thermometers. The Kinsa Smart Thermometer connects with Android and Apple phones. Intended for use with children, it can track temperatures and fevers, and let you know when the fever may have become dangerous. The app itself can provide some guidance on the best care levels for certain types of fever, though it’s certainly no replacement for a medical doctor.

Similarly, there are many insulin machines that are now “smart,” and there are products like Chrono Therapeutics — a smartphone controlled nicotine patch — which can provide protection from nicotine cravings. This product is expected to hit the market in 2018 or 2019, and opens the door for a number of other products through its trans-dermal technology. There are also simpler tools, such as pill management systems which are designed to tell you the optimal times to take your pills (and send you reminders), or tools that you can log your blood sugar levels in to make sure you’re getting the appropriate amounts of insulin.

There are some limitations to telemedicine. They are never going to replace a physical procedure that a doctor needs to do, such as a physical examination. However, many of the consultations that doctors have with patients are actually fairly minimal. Many doctors are able to ask questions and prescribe medications based on the patient’s feedback alone, especially when it comes to psychiatric medicine. Augmented reality and virtual reality, in the future, could make this type of interaction even easier.

This all creates a remarkable amount of space in which telemedicine could potentially grow. The challenge is going to be to pick out the startups that are going to be winners. It’s obvious that the market is emerging, but investing requires a company that has solid technology and good fundamentals.

Regards,

Ethan Warrick
Editor
Wealth Authority


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