Collaboration is essential in a medical
system comprised of multiple specialists working together for a patient’s
well-being. When high-end surgical experts must consult with procedural
specialists, often from more than one institution, any tool that facilitates
rapid (and HIPAA-compliant) communication between medical team members will be
highly prized.
A new surgical app called DocSpera is designed to serve as a platform for a secure exchange of medical information, allowing complex cases to be discussed among surgeons and their support teams, extending even to verified medical device industry representatives. Shared information can include everything from written notes to surgery schedules to videos to X-rays, transferred in a format that complies with patient privacy laws.
Bringing Together Segmented Care Teams
Using DocSpera, a nurse who has run diagnostic tests on a critically ill heart patient, can send results directly to the patient’s cardiologist, who can evaluate EKG results from a remote location and, through the DocSpera app, confer with the patient’s surgeon about how to proceed. Meanwhile, surgery centre staff are notified that they should reserve an operating room, and the specified stent is sent by a medical device representative. Precious minutes, not hours, pass before surgery is approved and scheduled.
Text messages, faxes and voicemails not only take time to compose and to be transferred across teams, but the type of information they convey is limited compared to what is being offered by DocSpera. There is an obvious main advantage of efficiently exchanged secure data, in multiple formats, for better patient outcomes. Cost reductions are potentially significant, too, both in terms of money and time.
Designed By A Surgeon, For Surgeons
DocSpera was founded by former Yahoo executive Sy Fahimi and Ken Trauner, an entrepreneurial orthopaedic surgeon whose previous companies include Invuity and Bespoke Innovations. The start-up company, which operates under the name Compliant Innovations, has secured initial funding from investors such as Life Force Ventures and Attractor Ventures. It is based in Sunnyvale, California.
The medical community has embraced DocSpera, registering over a thousand surgeons from 450 institutions since its launch in late 2013. The American Association of Hip and Knee Society (AAHKS) has signed DocSpera as the exclusive partner for its case collaborations. Other big names that have signed on include the Cleveland Clinic, the Hospital for Special Surgery, Kaiser, the Mayo Clinic and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).
Photo Credit: Google Images / BBC
