A digital health company that’s developed a business recording doctor visits and providing patients with copies of their doctor’s appointment as a reference tool to remind them of important information shared in the visit has raised a fresh round of capital. Medical Memory plans to use the $2.1 million it raised to support a national sales drive and product development, according to a company statement.
Provenance Venture Partners led the seed round for the Phoenix, Arizona-based startup.
The company is particularly interested in specialties such as orthopedics and oncology where a lot of complex information is imparted.
Neurosurgeon Dr Randall Porter started Medical Memory in 2008. He views the platform as part patient education-part risk aversion tool for physicians. With the availability of smartphone cameras and other small recorders it has become easier for patients to record these sessions themselves, but there’s always a risk that important parts will be missed either from a battery running out or other factors.
The tablet-based platform is designed to ensure that the full session can be recorded and easily shared with patients who can then share it with family members and others. Physicians can track how frequently patients share these videos — which they can access free of charge.
During the recording process, doctors can keep the device at a single location or move it to focus in on visuals – such as a patient scan, model or type of motion – to further educate the patient and caregivers, the statement said. Doctors can also later add brief one-way medical video messages with additional care information and instructions.
Typically they are shared two to five times. About 80 percent of patients take the video when it’s offered to them.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
This month, it is to begin a multicenter pilot program with Barrow Neurological Institute, Dignity-St. Joseph’s Hospital, and other Arizona Dignity hospitals.
