Second opinion: expectation and reality

In a perfect world we all would have doctors who know us since early childhood, familiar with all the stages of our growth & development, peculiarities of our bodies. We would trust such doctors 100% and would not likely to seek for second opinion services.
In reality, when we fall ill and seek professional advice we most commonly are referred to a doctor who not always has enough time to answer every single question and take into the account all the risk factors, ask all the necessary questions, evaluate all the parameters that could influence the disease and treatment plan.
It is not a problem when you suffer from something relatively minor — like cold or mild flu, but what if it is a serious life — threatening disease that requires immediate treatment?
Would not you want to consult other doctors? Hear out different opinions or confirm that the diagnosis is correct with several MDs? Most likely you will and here is the reality in the US:
- 10 business days is the median expectation time for remote second opinion where radiologist evaluation is needed;
- The median cost of remote second opinion services is $700;
Not great, ha? What if you want to hear the opinion of more than two healthcare professionals?
Besides being costly it takes time, which may be critical for certain diagnoses.
It is beyond absurd that in the 21st century in order to be diagnosed and get appropriate treatment one has to go thru the whole range of bureaucratic procedures while technology is already there to take care of current system inefficiencies and facilitate doctor/patient interaction.
Of course not all patients were born “ equal”, some do have access to boutique healthcare, where your doctors know everything about you, like a close family member, is aware of your lifestyle, habits, family history, reactions to certain treatments, medicine etc.
To tell you the truth, if most of us had a chance to be treated like John McCain ( he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma and operated almost immediately) there would be no need for services like one we are working on — HealPoint.io.
HealPoint.io — is the virtual telemedicine platform, providing second opinion to patients in a matter of hours. Second opinion is delivered in a form of General Doctor Consensus, meaning that on top of delivering second opinion from each separate participating doctor, patient will receive a consensus pointing to the probability of particular disease and treatment scenarios.
For the patient, this means not just having multiple doctor evaluations but also having a powerful tool for decision making.
HealPoint.io is blockchain based platform, utilizing Ethereum smart contracts and Schelling Coin mechanism for General Doctor Consensus generation.
We are currently working on our Initial Prototype and getting ready for the ICO.
Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome!
