Saving lives is sexy — and these days, you don’t need to be an M.D. to have a positive impact. Technology is changing the way medical professionals approach every aspect of a person’s health. If you want to use your powers for good, here are five NYC companies using tech to create a healthier future. And they're all hiring.
What they do: Flatiron Health created a cloud-based SaaS platform that’s changing the way we cure cancer. The company’s oncology-specific software connects cancer centers around the world so they can work together to address healthcare challenges.
Why it’s important: Cancer statistics are, frankly, terrifying, This year, some 1.6 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer, and about 600,000 will die from the disease.
Mission: To serve cancer patients and our customers by dramatically improving treatment and accelerating research.
What they do: StartUp Health operates a coaching platform and peer network for healthtech entrepreneurs. Basically, they want to close the gap between investors, corporations, universities, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to help speed up innovation in health and wellness.
Why it’s important: Entrepreneurs, doctors, universities and investors don’t tend to all hang out in the same circles. By bringing disparate, brilliant minds together, who knows what we humans can achieve. So far, we've proven to be a pretty resourceful species.
Mission: To transform health by organizing and investing in a global army of thousands of entrepreneurs passionate about the future of health.
What they do: Noom makes intelligent fitness programs that utilize smartphones. Their technology tells users exactly what they should be doing every day, with achievable daily tasks. It also adjusts its expectations and recommendations based on the data you submit.
Why it’s important: Obesity is a huge problem in the United States, affecting almost 36 percent of adults. Being obese correlates to an increased incidence of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. The combined medical costs of obesity in the United States total around $150 billion a year.
Mission: To create products that help people live healthier lives.
What they do: ContextMedia is a health information services company. They use technology to give lifestyle education to patients to help improve their health outcomes.
Why it’s important: Educating patients is important and doctors are time strapped and not necessarily the best teachers in the world. If technology can be used to speed up and make the patient education process more efficient, it’s kind of like creating more doctors — or at least getting more from the doctors we already have.
Mission: To deliver better health outcomes and impact the human condition positively through the development of healthcare technologies. Our vision is to embed actionable information and intelligence into every health decision in every consultation room in the world.
What they do: Quartet's platform takes historical patient records and allows doctors to analyze the data and see if a patient’s physiological symptoms are associated with, and being exacerbated by, a mental health condition.
Why it’s important: Some 26 million Americans will not receive the behavioral healthcare they need this year, resulting in 143,000 daily ER visits. If a doctor can identify a behavioral health risk and get their patient treatment, the chances of them needing to return drops dramatically. It’s not only good healthcare, it’s good business.
Mission: To enable every member in our society to thrive by building a collaborative behavioral and physical health ecosystem.
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