Health IT, Hospitals, Startups

Mayo Clinic’s plan to give medical advice through your smartphone

Mayo Clinic has put its money and its brains behind a new mobile health startup […]

Mayo Clinic has put its money and its brains behind a new mobile health startup that wants to give everyday consumers access to a personal health assistant to help them navigate the complex new world of healthcare.

The goal of the Better app, launching today in the App Store, is to expand consumers’ access to information and care over the long term through a device they’re already carrying with them every day.

While the telemedicine market has come alive with mobile and web-based solutions that make care available virtually with the press of a few buttons, these efforts have largely been focused around specific episodes of care. If you have a rash or a sore throat, pay X dollars for a video chat or an e-mail exchange with a doctor.

Better founder Geoff Clap thinks immediate access to care is only part of what consumers need. “We’re trying to build a long-term relationship with people so we can proactively help them stay on track,” he said. “You can only help people once you’ve built some trust.”

Clapp helped bring remote health monitoring technologies to market as the former COO and CTO of Health Hero Network (now part of Bosch Healthcare), and has since been mentoring digital health startups through the Rock Health accelerator program.

With additional backing from The Social + Capital Partnership, he and Better have built an app that feeds tailored health content to consumers and connects them with the people who can help them stay healthy. Users download the app and enter their and their family’s health information. On the home screen, the app delivers content that’s been created by Mayo Clinic and selected based on their health-related interests and medical history.

That part is free. To get access to the premium services, they’ll have to open their wallets. For $50 a month, users (and their entire families) get access to a symptom checker built with algorithms and content developed by Mayo’s experts. They also get 24/7 access to a “personal health assistant” – yes, a real live human! – who can answer their questions. Clapp said these are people with healthcare backgrounds employed by Better to function as somewhat of a Triple A for healthcare services. They can dish out quick information, help users locate a doctor or schedule an appointment.

And, if the situation calls for it, personal health assistants can connect the users to a Mayo Clinic nurse who can explain symptoms or potential causes for them, or recommend next steps (although neither the PHAs or nurses can actually make diagnoses).

One thing that struck me about Better was the business model, which pegs consumers as the payers rather than employers, health plans or providers – which seems to be the path of least resistance for other similar wellness and mobile care startups.

“We think the time is right for that model,” Clapp said, explaining how more power has been placed in the hands of consumers through the development of new technologies and the rise of high-deductible health plans. But they also need to be informed, which is where Better comes in.

Clapp cited recent studies that suggest that as patients pay more of their healthcare costs out-of-pocket, they may be more likely to put off preventive services or necessary care, which could actually lead to more problems down the line. With the guidance of the personal health assistant and Mayo’s nurses, Better users have guidance as to when they should seek care.

“We’re not trying to disrupt the system but to work with it,” Clapp said.

Down the road, he said, the company will look to add capabilities to integrate data from digital health devices that consumers use into the app.

“We want to make sure that we’re constantly balancing the clinical side with the Silicon Valley side,” Clapp said. “Down the road you might see us do things with chronic care, more device connectivity, EMR integration and more employer and other group integrations.”

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