A ZD Net post reports that during a fireside chat with AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher at the 2013 Data Driven Conference on Wednesday, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin described the inspiration behind his latest startup, Glow. Glow is a mobile app launched earlier this year that’s trying to improve fertility using “big data.” Right now, the app quite literally wants to help women get pregnant, which in such layman’s terms sounds like a parody. But Levchin is serious that this type of app can lead to better doctor-patient decision making, and ultimately trim wasted spending. He’s stated that the company’s goal is to expand into other niches in the healthcare field in order to accomplish this.
Levchin said, “It turns out to be, as many things are in health, an information problem,” referring to healthcare as a “convoluted space.” For example, he suggested that watching red blood cell count on a monthly basis could help doctors identify a trend, and take necessary action. This proactive type of healthcare can big trickle-down effects, saving the system money by reducing preventable diseases or the likelihood of foreseeable complications.
Because we have a smaller radius of influence here at Atlas MD, an app dedicated solely to fertility might be superfluous. However, if Glow opens the door to free-flowing data that helps docs make more insightful decisions, great news. Our EMR, Atlas.md, is currently integrated with FitBit and other health apps. Something like Glow could come in handy in in the future and add another layer of analysis for primary care physicians using our agile software.