Singaporean digital health start-up DoctorBell has just begun a partnership with the Singapore General Hospital (GHS) Accident and Emergency Department to develop interventional systems to encourage patient engagement and reduce costly readmissions.
The company’s aim is to build an integrated predictive and interventional platform based on health data analysis.
A platform to improve patient education and facilitate contact with doctors
Doctorbell has been selected for the « Modern Aging » accelerator program held by NUS Enterprise and Access Health International this September. « With this initiative, patients will be able to utilise this platform to access reliable education information and reach their regular doctors more easily for clarifications in between their appointments, » Patrick Poh, founder and CEO of DoctorBell said (source: Enterpriseinnovation.net).
A pilot trial at Singapore General Hospital
Since the beginning of the program, the company has expanded its activities. It now offers its solutions to departments in the public sector and private healthcare providers. In particular, the company has started a pilot trial in SGH Accident and Emergency Department. Selected patients will be able to start using the device after discharge from the emergency department.
DoctorBell has developed a comprehensive system dedicated to patient engagement
A better follow-up after hospitalization
The DoctorBell system was first conceptualized in August 2015 to allow patients and caregivers to connect more easily with doctors. The project was born after one Mr. Poh’s bad personal experience when one of his relatives fell seriously ill after office hours following discharge from a private hospital.
After a year of discussions and exchanges with advisors from the health and technology sectors, the Doctorbell concept was further developed to target specific problems in modern healthcare system and to integrate harmoniously into existing processes.
Patrick Poh then started the company in mid-2016 with Ming Xiang Tham and Nicholas Chew, his former classmates of NUS Computing.
Over the past year, the number of start-up employees has doubled. Alumni from the NUS School of Business, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and SMU School of Business have contributed their time to the team.
An ongoing link between patients and doctors
DoctorBell currently provides a full-fledged patient engagement system that improves patient education, healthcare provider productivity, and facilitates patient-doctor communication.
The goal of the start-up is to empower doctors to educate patients on health and disease in between regular in-person appointments.
The company also offers a bespoke telehealth system development service for medical practices to enable physicians to develop their own branding or customize solutions.