Innovative Health Technology Launches at Health 2.0, User Experience Still Lacking

Our favorite solutions from this year’s Health 2.0 conference Launch session all covered very different angles of the healthcare industry. The following solutions, which launched at Health 2.0, are ones that, although their designs still need refining, we think have strong potential to be successful based on their innovative concepts.

• Gliimpse - aggregates all your healthcare services (primary care physician, pharmacy, dentist, O.B., etc.) into a single health record. Think of it like a Mint for healthcare, a solution that gives you a comprehensive view of your health history. You can view results from tests in visual format and drill down to see the history. You can take notes on things you want to discuss with your doctor, and upload images or documents and then share your record with your doctor or a family member. Although we found their UI still needed work, the concept is one that we think the market is ready for.
   
• Vivor - helps people with cancer find and connect with financial aid programs in order to find funding for cancer treatments. As medical care costs skyrocket and less people are able to afford expensive treatments, we think this service will help give some patients ease of mind that there is financial help out there and they have it at their fingertips.
   
• Sensentia - How many times have you had to scroll through endless PDF files to figure out if a treatment was included in your health plan? Sensentia is an interactive tool that not only gives a natural language explanation of your insurance benefits but also tracks your usage and deductibles. Users can search in natural terms, like “Is physiotherapy covered in my plan?” and get a relevant answer. We think this type of self-service solution will appeal to users and can succeed as long as the user interaction is smooth.
   
• MedWand - In the realm of health-on-demand apps, we think MedWand is an interesting one to watch. Patients can communicate with their providers via video and, with the help of a device called MedWand that they keep at home, doctors can take their patients’ vitals and assess their eyes, ears, nose, and throat remotely. The key to their success will be to move away from just focusing on the hardware and also in becoming a viable option for providers, who are still finding virtual visits to be less efficient. Nailing the UX for patients so that they use the device correctly will also be key. 
   

In spite of these very innovative ideas, as Dr. Robert Wachter pointed out during his presentation, the lack of user centered design is the biggest issue in healthcare tech at the moment. Although some players like Accordion Health and Athena Health clearly get the importance of design, and it shows, most of the healthcare tech industry has some catching up to do.