Company Profile:
MessageDoc
We are a in San Diego-based, digital health company, providing a healthcare communication system that is as easy to use as sending an email or text message and saves providers' time and money. MessageDoc can securely send a message to any patient or provider, within a provider organization or in another organization -- any time, without any pre-setup, whether or not the recipient is a MessageDoc user! MessageDoc goes beyond HIPAA compliance, it authenticates every recipient’s identity – live or on demand, protecting against fraud and phishing schemes. Messages can be text, audio, photo, video, an electronic health records (EHR), DICOM images or smart forms, and can have any number of attachments. And any message can become an EHR. MessageDoc helps doctors improve relationships with referring practices, increase patient engagement, reduce travel and avoid many repeat office visits. MessageDoc's "organizational messaging and workflow" (OMW) system has been submitted for a patent. OMW helps staff to offload communications for doctors much the way they do in the office using the phone or fax today, but with much greater management control and flexibility. OMW supports care teams, transitions in care, "covering" doctors, the patient-centered medical home model and other healthcare-specific communication models.
Q: Please tell us how your business idea was conceived. Was there an "aha" moment or did it evolve gradually?
A: When were working on patient-centric information systems, doctors and staff told us that patient portals and HIEs failed to meet their electronic communication needs and that many violated HIPAA by emailing and texting health information every day. They told us that the lack of electronic communications with other provider organizations and patients impeded their delivery of care, but they were concerned that electronic patient communications would increase their workload.
They needed a solution that could securely send and receive health records, notes, reports, images, etc., on demand to other provider organizations and patients. And the solution should support care teams and case management and be interoperable with existing information systems, they told us. Their needs led us to develop the MessageDoc features that make it a unique solution to this complex problem.
They needed a solution that could securely send and receive health records, notes, reports, images, etc., on demand to other provider organizations and patients. And the solution should support care teams and case management and be interoperable with existing information systems, they told us. Their needs led us to develop the MessageDoc features that make it a unique solution to this complex problem.
Q: What's the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive aspect of your initiative?
A: We have created a way to securely share health information at any time, with anyone while reducing the time that providers have to spend dealing with electronic communications. We improve patient and provider access to information and to people.
We’ve applied for a patent on MessageDoc’s new communications paradigm. Today, email and messaging is person-to-person (you can forward, reply, or file a message). MessageDoc is entity-to-entity: an entity might be a team, organization, or person. Conversations have private (within an entity) and public (between entities) threads, to facilitate case and record management. Team members are given roles in the delegation of message handling.
Every MessageDoc user is authenticated via one of a number of unique identity verification processes. These processes allow a MessageDoc user to send a secure message to anyone, at any time, without any pre-setup with phishing- and fraud-prevention as well as message encryption.
We’ve applied for a patent on MessageDoc’s new communications paradigm. Today, email and messaging is person-to-person (you can forward, reply, or file a message). MessageDoc is entity-to-entity: an entity might be a team, organization, or person. Conversations have private (within an entity) and public (between entities) threads, to facilitate case and record management. Team members are given roles in the delegation of message handling.
Every MessageDoc user is authenticated via one of a number of unique identity verification processes. These processes allow a MessageDoc user to send a secure message to anyone, at any time, without any pre-setup with phishing- and fraud-prevention as well as message encryption.
Q: How will it help people live to their greatest potential or contribute to making the world healthier?
A: Effective and efficient communication between patients, care givers, and care teams is the key to a more responsive and engaging healthcare system. By modeling the real relationships between the different parties in a healthcare situation and providing appropriate, tailored communications, MessageDoc gives everyone the information they need, when they need it.
By providing user identity checking in addition to encryption and other required security measures, MessageDoc will increase user confidence in electronic communications for healthcare, making everyone more likely to use it.
Care teams will be able to treat more patients with less effort and better quality when they share the same information in a natural-feeling communication tool.
Even patients with low technology literacy or little access to computers will be able to use MessageDoc the way they use their smartphones today to leave voicemail and text messages.
By providing user identity checking in addition to encryption and other required security measures, MessageDoc will increase user confidence in electronic communications for healthcare, making everyone more likely to use it.
Care teams will be able to treat more patients with less effort and better quality when they share the same information in a natural-feeling communication tool.
Even patients with low technology literacy or little access to computers will be able to use MessageDoc the way they use their smartphones today to leave voicemail and text messages.
Q: Five years from now, what would you like to be able to say has been your most important contribution to health?
A: In five years, MessageDoc will help reduce costs while improving the quality of healthcare for patients in every socio-economic group.
The first MessageDoc user-partner is Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo. With 13 facilities, it is the largest clinic in Imperial and Riverside counties in California, serving 55,000 patients at over 195,000 appointments per year. Most CDSDP patients are Medicaid recipients. In general, they are not tech savvy and have limited access to computers and healthcare information. They often must travel significant distances to receive treatment, but a growing majority has smartphones and is comfortable with messaging. CDSDP believes that MessageDoc will enable their clinicians to communicate with patients effectively, and even eliminate the need for some office visits. CDSDP will also use MessageDoc for transitions in care with specialist providers to whom they refer patients for treatment.
The first MessageDoc user-partner is Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo. With 13 facilities, it is the largest clinic in Imperial and Riverside counties in California, serving 55,000 patients at over 195,000 appointments per year. Most CDSDP patients are Medicaid recipients. In general, they are not tech savvy and have limited access to computers and healthcare information. They often must travel significant distances to receive treatment, but a growing majority has smartphones and is comfortable with messaging. CDSDP believes that MessageDoc will enable their clinicians to communicate with patients effectively, and even eliminate the need for some office visits. CDSDP will also use MessageDoc for transitions in care with specialist providers to whom they refer patients for treatment.
Q: What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why?
A: Culture-focused, collaborative, communicative, and supportive.
The best results come from working with a shared vision as a team that includes customers, staff, contractors, and suppliers. Our vision is anytime, anywhere, communications with anyone throughout the healthcare ecosystem. Our focus is on the way people need to communicate and the challenges they face in serving patient needs with excellence.
We are a distributed team that is totally dependent on communications. We know that today’s simplistic communication paradigm can create overhead or add to “information bloat." We’ve spoken with hundreds of physicians, dentists, nurses, staff, and healthcare IT people to understand their real needs. And we’re innovating with a new communication paradigm that will help healthcare and others in the future.
The best results come from working with a shared vision as a team that includes customers, staff, contractors, and suppliers. Our vision is anytime, anywhere, communications with anyone throughout the healthcare ecosystem. Our focus is on the way people need to communicate and the challenges they face in serving patient needs with excellence.
We are a distributed team that is totally dependent on communications. We know that today’s simplistic communication paradigm can create overhead or add to “information bloat." We’ve spoken with hundreds of physicians, dentists, nurses, staff, and healthcare IT people to understand their real needs. And we’re innovating with a new communication paradigm that will help healthcare and others in the future.