Healthcare Startup Spotlight: AdhereTech

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Startup: AdhereTech
Website: www.adheretech.com
Funding: $2.35 Million as of July 9, 2014
Overview: AdhereTech created patented smart pill bottles to improve medication adherence and patient engagement. These bottles automatically measure if patients are adherent, and all data is wirelessly transmitted and analyzed in real-time. If a dose is missed, AdhereTech reminds the patient via automated phone call or text message – and on-bottle lights and chimes. Additionally, the system can solicit feedback from patients via text or phone call, determining why the dose was missed.

Sources: angel.co/adheretech & adheretech.com

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

Apps Help Combat the Waiting Game

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Scheduling a doctor’s appointment is never fun.  As identified by the Merritt Hawkins’ 2014 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times, appointments can take months to schedule.  With the increasing number of apps available, waiting will soon be a thing of the past.  For starters, there are many self-scheduling apps where patients can schedule day of appointments online like ZocDoc, DocASAP and InQuicker.  Another healthIT trend steadily increasing is telehealth where a patient can video chat with a doctor in a matter of seconds. Companies such as Doctor On Demand, HealthSpot and American Well all offer innovative telehealth solutions.

Check out average wait times below and see how your city lines up.  For more information on telehealth and industry trends, check out our whitepaper today!

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

What do e-Prescribing and the World Cup have in common?

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The World Cup has us all thinking from a more global perspective.  Whether you call it soccer or football, the sport continues to gain popularity worldwide.  Also increasing prevalence across nations is e-Prescribing.  According to a recent market report by Transparency Market Research, the global e-Prescribing market is expected to reach $887 million by 2019, up from $250.2 million in 2013.  It’s not yet in the billions like the World Cup but it’s an impressive figure and speaks to the momentum health IT is gaining.

The report highlights that while Europe is the largest market for e-Prescribing, North America is currently the fastest growing e-Prescribing market in the world.  The remarkable growth is in large part due to the various government programs requiring e-Prescribing integration to improve care quality and reduce errors.  Government initiatives are also contributing to increased usage across Asia.  We forecast that industry adoption in North America will continue to increase as physicians want the capability to send prescriptions for controlled substances electronically (EPCS).

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

Digital Health Funding Soars

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RockHealth recently published their Digital Health Funding – Midyear Review and I’ve highlighted some key findings below:

In 2013 digital health companies raised $2 billion in venture funding…first six months of 2014 digital health companies have already raised $2.3 billion.

So where’s all the money going?

Here is the full report:

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

Healthcare Startup Spotlight: Medicast

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Startup: Medicast
Website: www.medicast.co
Funding: $1.4 Million as of May 20, 2014
Overview: Medicast is a technology healthcare service that connects patients with nearby on call doctors on-demand to deliver affordable, high quality and compassionate care in the comfort of the patient’s home, workplace, or hotel–all within 2 hours.
Services: Medicast’s highly trained, professional and skilled physicians have expertise in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and geriatrics, and provide services ranging from simple check-ups to urgent/immediate care. In addition to ordering new or refill prescriptions, our doctors are able to provide certain oral medications and intramuscular injections.
Platforms: Available on iOS, via the web, and directly through the phone (call center).
Current Cities: South Florida / Miami & Los Angeles / Orange County
Coming soon: San Francisco & New York City

Sources: angel.co/medicast & medicast.co

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

Transformative Telehealth Companies

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Take a look into six companies transforming healthcare delivery and communication.  Interested in learning more about telehealth and industry trends? Download DoseSpot’s Telehealth White Paper today at www.dosespot.com/telehealth-whitepaper.

American Well:  American Well is a telehealth services company that brings healthcare into the homes and workplaces of patients. The company’s web and mobile telehealth platform connects patients and clinicians for live, clinically meaningful visits through video, secure text chat and phone.

CampusMD: CampusMD is part of Bethesda, MD-based Access Health Group. CampusMD brings around-the- clock physician care and choice exclusively to the higher-education market. Using the latest mobile technologies, the company connects patients immediately to board certified physicians who diagnose and treat a range of non-emergency illnesses and conditions.

HealthSpot: HealthSpot is pioneering patient and provider healthcare technology with a comprehensive, patent-pending system called the HealthSpot station which enables patients’ immediate access to medical diagnostics from board-certified doctors via high-definition videoconferencing and interactive, digital telehealth tools.

InteractiveMD: InteractiveMD is a leading telehealth company that provides patients with the convenience of round-the-clock access to licensed physicians via live video conference, telephone, and secure email.

MDAligne: MD Aligne offers healthcare resources via the telephone or web providing safe, convenient, and affordable access to remote caregivers utilizing the digital platform.

Teladoc: Founded in 2002, Teladoc is the nation’s first and largest telehealth provider with more than 6 million members nationwide. With an average response time of 16 minutes, Teladoc enhances access to affordable, high-quality medical care for adults and children via videoconferencing or telephone consultations.

Doctors Utilize Mobile Devices

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It’s no surprise that doctors are using mobile devices more than ever in the workplace. Pagers have long been replaced by iPhones and tablets, providing doctors with on the go access to:

• Patient medical information and history
• e-Prescribing software including drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking
• Email
• Medical references including image libraries
• Research resources; and
• A nearly unlimited number of applications courtesy of the Apple App Store

The latest in medical software advancements include telehealth capabilities, allowing doctors to visit with their patients via video conferencing software in addition to phone and email communication. Doctors can also connect with fellow healthcare professionals on their mobile device to discuss a patient encounter or field a question with the click of a button.

Adoption of health information technology continues to grow as organizations go for Meaningful Use certification. A 2013 survey fielded by Deloitte revealed that 43 percent of physicians currently use smartphones or tablets to access electronic health records, e-Prescribing and applications for communicating with other health care professionals. Additionally, 73 percent of physicians surveyed believe that health information technology will improve the quality of long term care provided.

Last year was a big year for adoption of mobile technology in healthcare but 2014 is slated to be the biggest yet. Stay tuned for an upcoming whitepaper on the current telehealth market plus the latest in industry trends and utilization.  Pre-register to receive the telehealth whitepaper at http://www.dosespot.com/telehealth-whitepaper.

Healthcare Hashtags and Trends

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Utilizing social media in Health IT has its challenges with complex terminology and acronyms.  Every time we tweet from @DoseSpot, the age old debate of whether to use #healthIT or #HIT comes up.  Recently launched, the Healthcare Hashtag Project curated by Symplur, a leading Healthcare Social Media Consultancy, created the project to help individuals and companies address these issues and to:

• Find where healthcare conversations are taking place
• Learn who to follow within a specialty or disease
• Follow trends from conferences in real-time or in archive

The project measures everything from trending hashtags and topics to the most talked about disease states and who is leading the conversations.  We plan to utilize this tool in the following ways:

1. Track trending hashtags when curating Tweets to increase readership
2. Follow influential health IT voices in social media
3. Get involved in conversations at medical meetings by utilizing official conference hashtags

E-Prescribing 101

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Electronic prescribing is not just the ability to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies. E-Prescribing can also increase care quality in a number of ways:

• E-prescribing makes sure that the prescriber is providing enough specific information for the pharmacist to fill the prescription, including the name of the drug, the dosage, its physical form, the route, and the physician’s instructions.
• Electronic prescribing software eliminates the time and effort of trying to understand the prescriber’s handwriting, as well as the chance of an error in that translation.
• E-prescribing significantly reduces the chance that the prescriber’s intentions are misinterpreted.
• E-prescribing is often used in conjuction with clinical decision support to ensure that any drug to drug interactions or drug to diagnosis issues are found and reported to the physician before the prescription order is completed.

Electronic prescribing is considered one of the most important areas of Healthcare IT, which is why Medicare created payment incentives for physicians who use a qualified e-prescribing system. In 2009, the incentives are an increase of 2% in revenue for each patient when e-prescribing is used. Due to the 2009 HITECH Act, electronic prescribing is required as part of any EMR (EHR) which qualifies for Medicare reimbursement in 2011.