VisualDx, a Rochester, New York-based company that designed a clinical decision support tool for doctors, has expanded its innovative thinking to the world of consumers.
At the Health 2.0 conference earlier this week, it launched its first app geared aimed at consumers: Aysa, an artificial intelligence-powered tool that lets people learn about their skin conditions.
The app is trained via VisualDx’s platform, which brings together medical expertise and a database of over 120,000 medical images.
In a recent phone interview, Rory Burrill, VisualDx’s vice president of business development and general manager of consumer health strategy, said his company saw its platform and know-how as a valuable resource that could assist others.
“We realized we could bring this to bear to help consumers and patients around the globe,” he said.
Thus, Aysa was born.
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.
It’s important to note that Aysa does not diagnose patients or replace a clinician. Instead, it can generate possible next steps for people who have questions about their common skin conditions.
Here’s how it works: Users download the app and take a picture of their rash, growth or other skin concern. Aysa asks a series of simple questions, such as how long the individual has had the condition and whether it itches. The app harnesses AI to analyze the issue, then provides pictures of similar conditions and a list of diseases that match the user’s symptoms. Finally, Aysa gives guidance on what the patient should do next, be it self-care techniques or visiting a doctor.
“It is intentionally designed to be a very easy and direct path,” Burrill said of the Aysa user experience.
The tool costs $9.99 for a one-year subscription, though for a limited time, new users can download it for free.
Aysa is developed for iOS-based devices, though an Android version of it is now under development. The app relies on Apple’s CoreML, a framework that helps speed up machine learning tasks on the iOS operating system. Since users can aggregate their health records in the Apple Health app on iPhones, Aysa can interact with existing data with a user’s permission.
VisualDx also leveraged Apple’s CoreML last year for its VisualDX Plus DermExpert tool.
Though Aysa is currently focused solely on dermatology and skin issues, Burrill noted VisualDx eventually wants to expand it so it can answer consumers’ other health-related questions as well.
In other VisualDx news, earlier this year, the Rochester company teamed up with Science 37 in a collaboration aimed at increasing patient and physician awareness of clinical trials in dermatology.
Photo: VolodymyrV, Getty Images
