PocketMD Platform

The healthcare system globally but specifically in Canada is facing significant challenges due to the shortage of doctors and the difficulties they encounter in their daily work. In 2020, 5 million Canadians were unable to secure a family doctor, and this problem is growing at an alarming rate.

One of the major issues contributing to this problem is the use of multiple outdated and standalone tools by physicians to manage their workflows. This results in significant time wasted on coordination and a lack of efficiency. For instance, patients use one tool to book appointments, while physician staff uses another to validate healthcare benefits, yet another is used to record patient information, and many more are used for referrals, information exchange, billing, and other administrative tasks. This fragmentation leads to physicians spending 66 minutes a day flipping through screens, and spending half of their day on desk work with several hours of unpaid time, ultimately leading to 79% burnout.

Furthermore, clinical staff is also facing significant challenges as they are overwhelmed with faxes, redundant tasks, double testing, double documentation, and non-patient care tasks, which take away their valuable time and resources from providing quality patient care. This results in a decrease in patient satisfaction and overall healthcare outcomes.

Our mission at PocketMD is to address these challenges by building a streamlined infrastructure that eliminates wastage and enhances efficiency, making healthcare more accessible and cost-effective for all Canadians.

PocketMD - the world's only all-in-one clinic solution that combines tools like scheduling, billing, EMR, and much more into a single platform. With our platform, we aim to revolutionize healthcare delivery by streamlining clinic operations and reducing the administrative burden for physicians and clinical staff.

Our solution reduces redundant workflows, automates administrative tasks, and frees up physicians' time so they can focus on delivering quality care to their patients. With built-in interoperability, patient data is available to providers across locations, reducing the need for time-consuming faxes between clinics.

Our patient portal empowers patients to take an active role in their care and participate in managing the clinic's workload. Patients can share their data with whoever needs it, eliminating the need for double and triple documentation.

At PocketMD, we are committed to providing the most powerful tool ever built to simplify healthcare delivery.

PocketMD is a specialized platform designed specifically for outpatient clinics and family health teams. Our primary goal is to empower physicians and their staff to optimize their time and enhance patient care. By utilizing our platform, physicians can potentially save up to 3 hours per day, allowing them to allocate more attention to patients' needs rather than getting caught up in administrative tasks like referral management, billings, and faxes.

By automating and streamlining these administrative processes, PocketMD enables physicians and their staff to redirect their efforts towards patient-focused responsibilities. This means that physicians can devote more time to recording symptoms, creating and analyzing tests, and delivering faster, more comprehensive care. By improving efficiency and reducing time-consuming tasks, we aim to address the issue of physician burnout, a significant concern affecting a reported 72.9% of physicians in Ontario.

In addition to enhancing physician productivity, PocketMD also empowers patients by granting them full access to their own healthcare data. Patients can view their medical notes, medications, and other relevant information, enabling them to take control of their own care. With this increased transparency and access to information, patients are empowered to make more informed decisions about their health and take a proactive approach to lifestyle choices.

Additionally, we are developing innovative solutions that enable patients to connect with others who share similar interests or conditions. For instance, if someone has diabetes, they can join a chat group consisting of fellow diabetes patients to provide support and exchange valuable insights. Moreover, researchers focusing on diabetes can easily interact with patients who have volunteered for research, facilitating faster and more efficient studies. This breakthrough capability has the potential to significantly advance rare disease research, as researchers can swiftly connect with patients and effortlessly track their progress. These advancements are made possible by PocketMD's comprehensive healthcare record, which serves as a catalyst for transformative innovations in the healthcare industry.

PocketMD is fortunate to have two co-founders, Jeevan and Omar, who bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the table, along with a deep passion to transform healthcare delivery.

Jeevan's background as a patient has given him a unique perspective and an unwavering commitment to empathizing with patients and improving their healthcare experience. He is also a seasoned entrepreneur who has built multiple successful investor-backed Internet businesses, bringing a wealth of business-building experience to PocketMD.

Omar, on the other hand, is a board-certified pediatrician who has an in-depth understanding of clinical workflows and the challenges that healthcare providers face every day. He recognizes the urgent need to reduce the administrative burden for physicians so they can focus more on patient care. His expertise in clinical workflows and healthcare delivery makes him an invaluable asset to the PocketMD team.

Moreover, our team consists of exceptional engineers, designers, and advisors who are dedicated to our rapid growth and success. With our talented team of professionals, we are poised to expand quickly and effectively, ensuring our platform continues to meet the evolving needs of healthcare professionals and patients. By harnessing the expertise of our skilled engineers, designers, and advisors, we are confident in our ability to drive innovation and deliver exceptional solutions in the healthcare industry.

We are applying to the MIT Horizon Prize with the aim of gaining validation, accessing a diverse network, and expediting the development of our solution.

Winning the MIT Horizon Prize would be a powerful endorsement of our innovative healthcare solution, significantly boosting our credibility and attracting the attention of potential users, partners, and stakeholders. This validation would provide us with a stamp of approval and instill confidence in the market regarding the effectiveness and impact of our solution.

Furthermore, the network associated with the MIT Horizon Prize is an invaluable resource. It brings together experts, mentors, and industry leaders with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Engaging with this network offers us an exceptional opportunity to learn from their expertise, gain insights into best practices, and receive guidance on refining and enhancing our solution. The diverse perspectives represented within the network help us broaden our understanding of healthcare challenges and develop innovative approaches to address them.

In addition, the prize allows us to fast-track the development of our solution. The financial support, resources, and recognition that come with winning the prize can significantly expedite our progress. With the backing of the prize, we can allocate resources more efficiently, accelerate our research and development efforts, and bring our solution to market in a shorter timeframe. This advantage is crucial in the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, where timely solutions can have a profound impact on improving patient care and outcomes.

Jeevan has a profound personal motivation that stems from their mother's heart attack. This life-altering event has shaped Jeevan's dedication to improving healthcare and drives their deep involvement in the community.

Witnessing the misdiagnosis and near-fatal consequences experienced by their own mother traumatized Jeevan. This deeply personal experience fuels their unwavering commitment to prevent others from enduring similar hardships. It is a constant reminder of the critical importance of accurate and timely diagnoses in healthcare.

Jeevan's connection to the community is rooted in empathy and a shared understanding of the challenges individuals and families face in navigating the healthcare system. By actively engaging with local stakeholders, healthcare professionals, and advocacy groups, Jeevan seeks to create meaningful change that directly addresses these challenges.

Through open dialogue, active listening, and collaborative efforts, Jeevan works closely with the community to gain firsthand knowledge of their specific needs and aspirations. This direct involvement allows Jeevan to build trust, establish credibility, and forge strong relationships within the community.

By being intimately connected to the community and driven by their mother's heart attack experience, Jeevan's dedication shines through in our project. It ensures that our solution is not only technically advanced but also empathetically designed to make a positive impact on the lives of individuals and families in the community we serve.

PocketMD is a comprehensive solution that integrates all the vital tools physicians require, delivering seamless control over the user journey and generating synergies across the entire care delivery process. Within the platform, physicians can effortlessly handle tasks such as appointment scheduling, billing management, and EMR access. This unified integration streamlines workflow, resulting in time savings and heightened operational efficiency. Additionally, it fosters enhanced collaboration and communication among healthcare providers, leading to improved patient care and outcomes.

Let's examine the specific example of appointment booking, health card validation, and OHIP claims submission to illustrate the significant value of PocketMD's integrated platform. OHIP is the province of Ontario's health insurance plan. 

Presently, clinics rely on disparate booking and billing tools, necessitating substantial manual effort from clinic staff. The process involves staff calling patients to schedule appointments, using a separate tool for benefit verification upon patient arrival, and utilizing a third-party application to create billing claims once the appointment concludes. This entire interaction consumes approximately 9 minutes of valuable clinic time, with high-volume family clinics dedicating around 6 hours per day solely to these tasks. When additional factors like referral management and care coordination are considered, it further strains small family practices.

In contrast, PocketMD's integrated platform simplifies these processes by automating various manual steps. For instance, when a patient books an appointment on PocketMD, the platform automatically verifies OHIP benefits and imports the patient's information and billing details from the booking infrastructure. During the appointment, the physician only needs to input billing codes, which the infrastructure seamlessly integrates with the patient's OHIP information to generate billing claims.

Consequently, PocketMD's platform significantly reduces the typical 9-minute administrative burden per patient associated with standalone tools to less than 1 minute. This not only saves substantial time for clinic staff but also enhances the patient experience by reducing wait times and enabling care teams to allocate more focused attention to patients.

Year 1:

Improve patients' access to healthcare: PocketMD will work towards expanding its platform to reach a larger user base, including patients in underserved areas. This will involve partnerships with healthcare organizations, community outreach programs, and targeted marketing efforts to raise awareness about the platform's benefits. By providing convenient and user-friendly access to healthcare services, PocketMD aims to enhance patients' ability to receive timely medical care and support.

Reduce Provider Burnout: PocketMD will focus on streamlining administrative tasks and optimizing workflows within its platform. By automating processes like appointment scheduling, billing, and medical record management, physicians will be able to save time and allocate more of their working hours to direct patient care. This efficiency improvement will result in reduced administrative burden, allowing physicians to see more patients or have more quality time for each patient.

Year 5:

Eliminate faxes in healthcare: PocketMD will strive to completely eliminate the reliance on outdated fax-based communication systems in healthcare. By leveraging secure messaging, electronic document exchange, and interoperability standards, PocketMD aims to create a seamless and secure digital communication network among healthcare providers. This transition will improve communication efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance the overall quality of care.

Improve healthcare provider collaboration to deliver better patient outcomes: PocketMD will focus on enhancing care coordination and collaboration among healthcare providers. The platform will facilitate easy sharing of patient information, test results, treatment plans, and care updates among different providers involved in a patient's care journey. By fostering better communication and collaboration, PocketMD aims to improve care transitions, prevent gaps in care, and ultimately enhance patient outcomes.

Improve patient and researcher journey for disease research: PocketMD will develop features and capabilities that enable patients to participate in research studies and contribute their health data securely and anonymously. By connecting patients and researchers through the platform, PocketMD aims to accelerate the research process, improve data collection for clinical studies, and empower patients to actively contribute to advancing medical knowledge. This will create opportunities for personalized treatments and breakthroughs in rare disease research.

Improve patients' access to healthcare

Increased number of physician appointments: By monitoring the change in appointment numbers, PocketMD can demonstrate improved access to healthcare services for patients.

Reduced time per appointment: Shorter appointment durations indicate increased efficiency, allowing more patients to be seen, thus improving access.

Reduce physician Burnout

Reduced time to complete a referral: Streamlining the referral process within PocketMD can save time for physicians, enabling them to allocate more time to patient care.

Overall time spent on the PocketMD platform: Monitoring the time spent on the platform can help identify areas where efficiency improvements can be made to reduce physician workload.

Tracking Billing rejections: Minimizing billing errors and streamlining the billing process within PocketMD can free up valuable time for physicians to focus on patient care and improve the overall patient.

Eliminate faxes in healthcare

Reduction in faxes sent and received: Tracking the decline in fax usage indicates progress towards eliminating this outdated and inefficient communication method, leading to enhanced communication and data exchange.

We are still building out frameworks to track provider collaboration and disease research modules.

PocketMD offers physicians a wide range of benefits when they choose to integrate their clinic operations with the platform. As more physicians join PocketMD, the value for all participating physicians increases. When a physician becomes part of the platform, they bring along their patients and networks, enabling PocketMD to create a unified healthcare record that spans multiple providers. This unified record serves as a comprehensive source of patient information, facilitating seamless collaboration and information sharing among healthcare professionals. By leveraging this unified record, PocketMD can seamlessly connect patients with researchers, streamlining the process of patient recruitment for research studies. This integration between patients, physicians, and researchers leads to enhanced collaboration, improved healthcare outcomes, and advancements in rare disease research.

PocketMD's core technology is a robust and integrated platform that combines various tools and functionalities to empower healthcare providers and improve patient care. At its heart, the platform utilizes advanced software systems and databases to manage and streamline key aspects of healthcare delivery.

The platform includes features such as appointment scheduling, electronic medical records (EMR) management, billing and payment processing, communication tools, and more. These tools are seamlessly integrated within a single platform, eliminating the need for separate software or manual processes.

PocketMD's core technology leverages secure cloud infrastructure, ensuring data privacy and accessibility for healthcare providers. It incorporates intelligent algorithms and automation to optimize workflows, reduce administrative burden, and enhance efficiency.

Furthermore, the platform incorporates interoperability capabilities, allowing for seamless exchange of information with external systems and healthcare networks. This facilitates better coordination and collaboration among healthcare providers, leading to improved patient outcomes.

Overall, PocketMD's core technology serves as a comprehensive and centralized solution, empowering healthcare providers with the tools they need to deliver high-quality care, streamline operations, and enhance the overall patient experience.

2 founders, 4 engineers, 1 sales person, 1 UXUI designer. All full time.

we have been building PocketMD for 2 years.

At PocketMD, we are committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusivity in all aspects of our work. We actively promote a diverse and inclusive team, ensuring equal opportunities for everyone. We strive to address disparities in healthcare access and outcomes by tailoring our solutions to meet the needs of diverse populations. We engage with diverse stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, and communities, to ensure their voices are heard and their perspectives are incorporated into our decision-making processes. By embracing diversity and promoting equity, we aim to create a healthcare ecosystem that serves everyone with fairness and inclusiveness.

Currently, we give the platform to family physicians for free. If they use our billing module to process claims, we charge them 3.99% of submitted claims. This model will continue for the foreseeable future to limit the barrier to entry for PocketMD.

PocketMD aims to achieve financial sustainability through a combination of revenue streams and cost management strategies. The primary revenue source comes from partnering with healthcare providers and institutions who pay for access to the PocketMD platform and its features. Additionally, we explore potential collaborations with insurance providers and government healthcare agencies to establish mutually beneficial arrangements.

To ensure cost efficiency, PocketMD implements effective resource allocation and optimization strategies. We continuously assess and refine our operational processes, leveraging technology to streamline workflows and reduce overhead expenses. By maintaining a lean and agile organizational structure, we aim to maximize efficiency while delivering high-quality services to our clients.

Furthermore, as PocketMD expands its user base and strengthens its position in the market, we anticipate benefiting from economies of scale and increased brand recognition. This growth will enable us to negotiate favorable partnerships, attract additional investment, and explore innovative revenue streams, such as data analytics and research collaborations.

Overall, PocketMD's financial sustainability relies on a balanced approach of generating revenue, optimizing costs, and leveraging market opportunities to support ongoing growth and innovation in the healthcare technology sector.

PocketMD is currently being used by 30 physicians across clinics and they are all paying customers. We also have another 100 physicians on the waitlist with many more in our active marketing pipeline.