How Technology is Helping Us Find Better Health Care Options
In recent years we have seen technology driving medical innovation all across the globe. Companies like Geneca offer custom software solutions for the medical field to keep up with the constant advances in medical treatments. From medical robots that patrol hospitals and perform check-ups to new gene editing techniques, medical technology companies are changing our health-care system by offering products that deliver cheaper, faster, and more efficient patient care.
Thanks to these widespread technological innovations and today’s globalized market, we have endless choices when it comes to our medical care. Today patients have countless options when searching for the best procedures, treatments, doctors, facilities, and hospitals for any given ailment. In fact, the medical tourism market is booming, with 50 million of us traveling abroad every year for better, faster, and cheaper medical procedures.
This $120 billion dollar market is quickly growing and yet still remains largely untouched by the tech world. One company that is joining the market and streamlining the process of medical tourism is ARCHIMEDICX. The company offers potential patients a big data search engine of the world’s top medical facilities. The platform serves as an end-to-end tool for connecting to the world’s best hospitals – from research to booking. It also covers a pretty wide net, with availability in nine languages and covering medical facilities in over 40 countries.
Unlike other medical search engines that are often paid to rank certain hospitals above others, ARCHIMEDICX’s algorithm is certified as unbiased by HIMSS (Health Information Management Systems Society), one of the largest global non-profit organization that strives to optimize health engagements and care outcomes through information technologies.
The search engine also takes into consideration your personal needs, such as price, location, and age. So let’s say you have to have knee replacement surgery and you’re searching for the crème de la crème of hospitals – not just in your area, but in any country that’s close enough to get to in one flight. With ARCHIMEDICX, you can set your search based on your procedure, but also set your price limit, the area of your choice, and even your food preference (if you are kosher or vegan for example). The big data algorithm takes into consideration all of these factors and ranks the best facilities for knee replacement surgery based on your specific preferences.
The company recently partnered with Russia’s Internet giant Mail.Ru in order to fully integrate ARCHIMEDICX’s search engine on their platform. They are currently in advanced discussions to form similar strategic agreements around the world in order to meet the needs of millions of potential patients. “Our long term goal is to be the world’s go-to place with respect to any elective medical procedure, providing mankind with unbiased, reliable guidance to the best medical facilities for their needs,” said Moni Milchman, CEO and founder of ARCHIMEDICX.
As certain factors, such as our growing population, our increasing lifespan, and even decreasing travel prices, begin to take effect, the medical tourism market is likely to see rapid development. Companies like ARCHIMEDICX are poised to be part of the driving force, yet it will be interesting to see how they take on problems posed by legal and ethical issues. Differing laws in various countries, different standards of ethics, and even a lack of organized patient medical histories may threaten the health tourism industry and deter travelers from taking the risk.