The digital health, or eHealth global market has been booming in recent years. It was valued at 100 billion US dollars in 2016 and is expected to grow to 200 billion by 2020. Being checked out by a doctor no longer means waiting long hours at a walk-in clinic. We are in an era of mobile applications that can connect patients to doctors and nurses without leaving the comfort of their own homes. With eHealth solutions, doctors can easily and freely share and communicate medical knowledge across platforms and devices to other healthcare practitioners. It is clear that the times are changing, and for the better.
Did you know that according to Canada Health Infoway, 76% of Canadians say the digital health market helps provide easy and convenient access to healthcare services? With that in mind, we decided to take a look at some of Canada’s life-changing healthcare startups which give patients instant access to doctors, help guide them through all steps of their surgery including preparation and post-op, allow doctors to share medical knowledge on digital platforms to save lives and help patients monitor and manage chronic pain and diseases.
1. Akira Medical: Instant Access to Healthcare Practitioners
According to the team: “Akira is a mobile app that gives you instant access to Canadian healthcare practitioners specializing in Family Medicine. When you or a member of your family gets sick, a waiting room full of other sick people is the last place you want to be. Get prescriptions, lab tests, or specialist referrals – all without leaving home. Tell us about your health history and what you’re concerned about, and we’ll help you pick the right membership plan for your needs. Chat with a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner as often as you need to, or book an appointment with our Allied Health Professionals.”
Locations: Ontario, BC, Alberta, Quebec
Website
Twitter
2. SeamlessMD: Guiding Patients Through Surgery
According to the team: “SeamlessMD is a leading patient engagement and care management platform. We provide a technology solution to guide patients from preparation to recovery and monitor at-risk patients post-discharge. Backed by clinical research, SeamlessMD has been proven to reduce the length of stay, ER visits, surgery cancellations and costs. Patients can access SeamlessMD on their smartphone, tablet or computer, and are guided from preparation through recovery with reminders, surveys and education. Healthcare providers can access real-time dashboards to monitor patient progress and intervene sooner for patients at-risk. Customers including leading hospitals and health systems such as Rush University Medical Center, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System and the McGill University Health Centre.”
Location: Based in Toronto
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile
3. Figure 1: Democratizing Medical Knowledge
According to the team: “It is impossible to know everything in medicine. But with Figure 1’s knowledge-sharing platform, it’s easy for healthcare professionals to come close. Figure 1’s mission is to democratize medical knowledge and improve the future of healthcare. Millions of healthcare professionals—as well as prominent institutions including Doctors Without Borders, BMJ, and Mount Sinai Health System—use our digital platform to share cases and help save lives. In just a few years, we have become the largest active network of medical professionals in the world. And that’s only the beginning.”
Location: Based in Toronto
Employees: 11-50
Website
Angel List Profile
4. Sosido: Online Knowledge Sharing Network
According to the team: “Sosido is an online knowledge sharing platform designed to speed clinical knowledge transfer between healthcare professionals. Sosido bridges the silos of center, discipline and specialty to allow sharing of published research and practical clinical experience. With Sosido, healthcare professionals can create more connected communities, stay on top of the latest research and raise the profile of their contributions to clinical care.”
Location: Based in Vancouver
Website
Angel List Profile
5. The Rounds: Secure Online Exchanges Between Doctors
According to the team: “An online network where doctors can collaborate and connect, safely and securely, about clinical cases, in real-time. No more phone tag. No more archaic fax machines. The Rounds is a space in which physicians can stop exchanging faxes and start exchanging ideas and opinions. Thousands of Canada’s brightest and best physicians have become members of The Rounds. Tens of thousands of collaborations, connections and conversations have happened within the safe community of the site. Thousands of Canadians are getting better healthcare faster because of what happens on The Rounds every day.”
Location: Based in Halifax
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile
6. QxMD: Mobile Solutions for Clinical Practice
According to the team: “Read by QxMD is a personalized medical/scientific journal for iPad, iPhone, Android and web. Physicians and scientists use it to keep up with new research, read outstanding topic reviews and search PubMed. It’s like Flipboard for healthcare. Hospitals, governments, insurers, and industry partners pay to use the platform to disseminate knowledge and change practice at the point of care. Calculate by QxMD provides medical decision support at the point of care for iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows and web. Physicians and other healthcare providers use it to make better, evidence-based clinical decisions. Hospitals, governments and industry partners pay to disseminate quality improvement tools that drive strategic goals.”
Location: Based in Vancouver
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile
7. Wildflowers by Mobio Interactive: Guided Meditation Mobile Experience
According to the team: Wildflowers is an engaging, accessible mobile experience that blends guided meditation, biofeedback, and 3D interactive gameplay. The app includes a seven-day program that introduces users to mindfulness meditation, as well as a catalog of ‘mini-meditations’ geared towards stress and productivity. Mindfulness is a secular form of meditation that eases the psychological stresses of depression, anxiety and chronic pain. It is an effective tool in stress management and includes outcomes such as positive affect and better decision-making. Based on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Protocol (MBSR), our guided meditations are clinically proven to reduce stress and improve well-being. So you can see your progress, our app measures your heart rate before and after you meditate. To measure heart rate, we use an amazing new technology we’ve developed using the camera on your phone. MI uses a unique mood tracking board to generate personalized meditation suggestions, to help you feel your best.”
Location: Based in Toronto
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile
8. Managing Life: Tracking and Managing Pain
According to the team: “Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 people and drives more healthcare costs than any other chronic condition – yet the way it is managed has been relatively unchanged for the past 30 years. ManagingLife reduces the human and financial cost of pain through technology and analytics. By empowering both patients and doctors, we help get pain sufferers to the right treatment faster. Over 25,000 chronic pain sufferers use our app, Manage My Pain, to self-manage, better understand their conditions, and communicate with their doctors. Our first-of-a-kind monitoring solution helps healthcare professionals and insurers better manage their chronic pain patient populations through:
▪ more accurate patient-reported outcomes
▪ remote monitoring and engagement
▪ proactive identification of at-risk patients through proprietary analytics
We work with leading clinical and academic pain institutions such as the Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, and York University.”
Location: Based in Toronto
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile
9. eTreatMD: Diagnosing and Monitoring Chronic Diseases
According to the team: “eTreat intends to reduce pain and suffering affecting billions of people globally by providing apps that diagnose and monitor chronic diseases. We help people get better treatment by putting diagnostic and monitoring tools in the hands of the sufferer and family and friends providing care and support. They get access to reliable clinical information, support groups and services. eTreat’s cloud-based electronic health record and proprietary image analysis systems turn smartphones into medical devices that empower both the sufferer and their support group. eTreat can measure and report disease progress, the effectiveness of treatment and track baseline health for more effective use of clinical services. that are stored in a secure electronic health record, providing a low-barrier solution that facilitates effective treatment.”
Location: Based in Vancouver
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile
10. MediSeen: Accessing Healthcare at Home
According to the team: “The future of health care is in your home. MediSeen is on a mission to revive the house call as the primary point of care by enabling health care providers to deliver care in their community. This is achieved via our secure, cloud-based digital platform, which enables patients to easily access quality health care at their home or office, instead of visiting overwhelmed doctor’s offices, walk-in clinics, or hospital emergency rooms.”
Location: Based in Toronto
Website
Twitter
With these innovative and original healthcare startups, access to healthcare services becomes easier and convenient. The digital health market is growing significantly with doctors being able to effortlessly share medical knowledge across devices to help save their patients. With this technology, people can manage and monitor their chronic pain and diseases through the simple act of having an app on their phone or tablet. Seeing how quickly technology is evolving today, it is difficult to imagine what the eHealth market will look like 10 years from now. Can you picture it?
