Nibletz StaffIn recent years, the healthcare industry has changed dramatically in terms of how general health knowledge is shared and how it has impacted our overall health. From tracking our progress in our workouts to keeping tabs on our heart rate and blood sugar levels, there isn’t much that we can’t monitor ourselves in between our regular checkups to our doctor’s office.
The healthcare industry has thus begun to provide everyday people with more readily available and convenient ways to track our health and become more aware of how the lives we live impact our bodies. Today, people have become far more aware and tuned into their health than previous generations, meaning that with so much health-related information available, there are plenty of us who are interested in utilizing it.
What many don’t realize is that It’s not just WebMD and Mayo Clinic who are leading the charge.
There are a lot of smaller startup medical healthcare companies that are specializing in providing health-related information to individuals, and are helping to improve the healthcare industry by making it less exclusive, less expensive and more accessible to people, mostly through the use of technology.
1. BluePrint Health
BluePrint Health is a unique group of healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who specialize in consultation for other healthcare companies. Their goal is to assist those companies with the business side of the work and to help connect the two disciplines. They’ve assisted a number of companies, including Symcat, iCouch and Allazo Health.
2. iCouch
It’s an app that allows you to search for a therapist based on your area of need, whether it be anger, anxiety or depression and then schedule an appointment with that therapist. Once an appointment is scheduled, you’re able to pay for the session through the app (which is very easy) and then you use the app to actually meet with the therapist over the internet in a Skype-style video chat session.
3. Eliza Corporation
The Eliza Corporation specializes in health engagement management solutions, which essentially means they help healthcare companies establish mediums for communicating with people about their health and allowing those people to respond. They’re a consulting firm that’s similar to BluePrint Health.
4.Simplee
Simplee is an app that is designed to help people pay for their health care in an easier, more straightforward environment that focuses on helping people know exactly what they owe and why they owe it.
5. Patient Knows Best
This company specializes in making medical records available to patients and making it simpler for them to connect with clinicians for a mutual benefit. Additionally, they provide tools and information that help doctors to improve care quality and to help patients manage their own health and save time on medical-related tasks.
6. FitOrbit
This unique fitness startup offers online personal trainers to help clients lose weight without having to pay the high prices of in-person trainers. The cost is less than $50 a month, and you do in fact get your own real life personal trainer. The trainer works with you just like any other, helping to establish meal plans, workout routines, while providing motivation and whatever else is necessary to help you succeed.
It’s a completely new way to utilize a personal trainer, with a price that’s tough to beat.
A New Wave of Healthcare
As traditional healthcare continues to get more expensive, startups (like these) that don’t rely on third party insurance companies are going to become more and more commonplace. The most attractive thing about them is that it allows you to be in direct control with an affordable form of healthcare, without needing to rely on an insurance company or government agency.
Keep an eye on companies like these as demand for them could certainly skyrocket in the near future.
Camille McClane is honored to have had the opportunity to share her knowledge of these health startups. In collaboration with HostPapa, her writing also covers nearly everything in the tech industry, including online marketing, social media and SEO.
FitOrbit sounds like a great way to get motivated for workouts. And its so much cheaper than hiring a trainer at a gym! I’m not so sure about the iCouch thing. It seems like a potentially awkward and impersonal experience to speak with a therapist through video chat, but I could see how it could be really helpful to people who are struggling to find the strength and energy, due to depression or whatever emotional issues are ailing them, to actually visit a therapist in person.