In a recent article on TechCrunch, Crunch Network contributor Mandira Singh argues that a big change is due in health care: more tech innovations to improve processes, deliver healthcare, increase accuracy, and ensure that patients are able to receive the care they need, when they need it.
While we have over a million apps and other services to help us stay fit, keep us entertained, educate us, improve our efficiency, and more, the healthcare industry is notably lacking in IT solutions. Yet these are the kinds of apps and platforms that could truly transform the healthcare industry, making it more cost effective, accurate, and efficient.
Singh points to PipelineRx as an example of one solution currently stepping up to fill the servicing gap. Drug therapy accounts for an estimated 80 percent of treatment received during a hospital stay, but hospital pharmacies are often woefully understaffed—resulting in longer wait times for medication and more errors. Enter PipelineRx, which allows telepharmacists to use a cloud-based platform to remotely verify, and double check for errors in, patient prescriptions.
In the past five years, over $13 billion in funding has gone to organizations aiming to provide solutions to these problems. For example, in October 2015, PipelineRx raised over $9 million in a round of funding led by McKesson Ventures, Mitsui & Co., Inc., and AMN Healthcare. But Singh argues that there is still much work to be done—and now is the time for that innovation to take place.
“My message to entrepreneurs? Forget about developing the next fitness coaching app,” writes Singh. “The real breakthrough opportunity is at your nearest community hospital.”