
Ask HN: What are ways you feel healthcare can be improved? - hsikka
Hey folks, its early days yet, but I&#x27;m working on building a platform and api (www.sapien.io) that would bring together your health records, fitness data, lab report, and any other health related data and place it totally under your control. I think quantifying longitudinal health data would have an enormous value for our society. A good analysis of what I mean is at https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;@qbio&#x2F;a-positive-feedback-loop-for-humanity-437762f6725c#.x15ojq5w1.
I think making it developer facing would also be really awesome. As smartphone sensors get better and better, it isn&#x27;t far fetched to imagine tests and apps being made for the phone that can detect common ailments like the cold. But we need a platform to support the developers and algorithms that would do that.
Any thoughts or advice for me? I&#x27;m very young and really just trying to build something that would help folks. I don&#x27;t really have any plans for monetization, yet.
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joeclark77
Gamification is the only area where you really can't run out of ideas. Find
ways to pull some of this sensor data, whether from the smartphone, the Nike+,
the fitbit, etc, and create games out of it. That would also seem to be a good
easy way for a young developer to get something simple but finished (rather
than complex but unfinished).

It could be just a basic competition among friends -- whoever walks the most
steps in a day gets a badge. Or you could do something crazy like Pokemon Go
except where the Pokemons run away from you at a 10 minute mile pace (6 mph)
when you spot them, and you have to chase them down. Or do an internet-of-
things project where you change your TV channel by doing the corresponding
number of push-ups. These ideas are free of charge, you're welcome.

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hsikka
Wow thank you! I really appreciate the pointers!

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rpod
First of all, health care is definitely a part of society which needs to be
reinvented, so kudos for contributing to that. You say you are looking to
build a platform with a great value for society. Why not focus on the big
issues? Smoking is still the number one cause of death in many countries. In
my country, 1 in 10 people has type 2 diabetes, and 1 in 3 adults will develop
it at some point.

It might be too difficult for a one man project, but anything that does not
tackle these problems feels like premature optimization to me.

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hsikka
Very good insights, thank you! It may seem like too much for a one man
project, but perhaps if I do my part people will follow suit? I'll keep you
posted on how it turns out!

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rpod
I am interested to hear about it!

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dallenallred
It's an interesting idea but where do these data come from? Fitness data makes
sense but health records/lab reports/medical claims are owned by doctors and
insurance companies...

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hsikka
You're absolutely right! To integrate the more serious data, I would have to
partner with some of the medical and insurance organizations. I'm going to
take it one step at a time, and see where that gets me!

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woofyman
Single payer.

