MedCrunch is a new kind of online magazine covering health, medicine, entrepreneurship and technology. It’s coming from a good place, focusing on new trends and the challenge of being a physician. They listed a few innovative trends and people to watch for in 2014 and we made the top of the list! We’re not going to complain when MedCrunch writes, “… Atlas MD recently finished their new electronic medical record. Mobile friendly and sleek with iPhone like usability, it is likely a dream come true to doctors everywhere dealing with their clunky medical record counterparts, or worse yet, paper.”
Thank you for the kind words, MedCrunch.
Also on the list was Medicast, a service using GPS and smartphone technology to let you request a house call from a physician. It’s a little pricy right now, but it’s a cool idea. Kind of like if Lyft or Uber brought you a doctor instead of a taxi. Of course, we imagine a world where most towns and metropolises have direct care docs available who’d do that for their subscribers. But this raises an interesting possibility — perhaps direct care (or fee-for-service docs) could enroll in this service to supplement their income, and see more patients. This could raise the question of preferential treatment, favoring the wealthy, etc., something that critics mention when talking about concierge medicine. However, we’re free market thinkers and that’s a risk we’re willing to face. In the long run, price should come down for a service like this. And good doctors aren’t going to let sick people suffer indiscriminately.
Sherpaa rounded out MedCrunch’s list. Sherpaa is a guide for insurance, targeting businesses that insure their own workers. They have a team of doctors on call that any worker can contact 24 hours a day. It’s basically like having a direct care team of doctors on hand for any work related injury. We like how they’re thinking. Definitely worth following in 2014.