Looking for guidance/collaboration on a project

[Vengefulseven]

Hi there,

First time posting here.  I've been all over the Reddit subs for Ripple and recently started a sub reddit called Coil Community.  It has been a lot of fun, but is ultimately a hobby.  

To cut to the chase, I work in clinical trial finance.  The flow of money between pharma and hospitals/private practice is ineffecient and an incredibly involved manual process.  That is not even to mention the flow of money between. Hospitals and insurance companies whe  we are talking standard of care treatment.  There is a serious need for someone to shake this space up with innovation.  I believe payments can go from weeks to months, down to days and even hours if we implement the right processes.  

Now, I will not lie, it would be an enormous undertaking in an industry that is very slow to adapt to change, but with my background knowledge and connections on the finance side of things and someones technical knowledge, I believe it is quite possible to build an API that can link an existing Electronic Medical Record system with a pharma & insurance internal software to speed up the effeciency of how claims are processed and how money is moved.

I'm looking for someone with coding experience interested in getting in for a stake in this concept. My knowledge is very limited on the tech side. 

Excuse any spelling errors.  Did this on my phone.  

[peanut56]

Anything that can decrease the cost of healthcare, which in turn should increase the quality of care given, especially since such an undertaking works on back-end efficiency would be nothing short of monumental. This is from the perspective of an American, so I do not know how the French medical system works, but in the U.S. when it comes to healthcare money is far more important than saving someone's life.

[mandelbaum]

It would be very intersting to get some input from @BobWay on something like this, a brilliant usecase.

Edited May 5, 2019 by mandelbaum

[Vengefulseven]

3 hours ago, peanut56 said:

Anything that can decrease the cost of healthcare, which in turn should increase the quality of care given, especially since such an undertaking works on back-end efficiency would be nothing short of monumental. This is from the perspective of an American, so I do not know how the French medical system works, but in the U.S. when it comes to healthcare money is far more important than saving someone's life.

Correct, I'm American FYI.  This would  indeed be a massive undertaking.  The US is so advanced when it comes to actual treatment, but the finances behind it all are trapped in the stone age.   It can be weeks or months between submission of a medical claim before the hospital even knows if an insurance provider will cover or deny a claim.   Imagine if that process could be sped up to days or hours and a payment released upon the approval of the claim.

I think it can be once the tools are created. 

[peanut56]

I guess I didn't say on hell of a use case. I remember being in the E.R. with a fractured skull, and I had to provide proof of insurance before they would perform a CT scan. I guess since I was still conscious and aware of my surroundings, so  proof of insurance first. If there was bleeding on the brain I could of dropped dead, luckily it was just a blown out orbit.

[Vengefulseven]

19 minutes ago, peanut56 said:

I guess I didn't say on hell of a use case. I remember being in the E.R. with a fractured skull, and I had to provide proof of insurance before they would perform a CT scan. I guess since I was still conscious and aware of my surroundings, so  proof of insurance first. If there was bleeding on the brain I could of dropped dead, luckily it was just a blown out orbit.

That is sad to hear and I 100% believe it. I've worked all over the place in medicine.  I used to work at as a registrar at an urgent care when I was in college.  Can't tell you how many patients (some of which were children) I was tasked with turning away because they either had a debt or were not insured.  It made me a huge patient advocate.  I truly despise a lot of the inner workings of American medicine.  I believe that change comes from working within a system rather than blowing it up to start over though.  

[Benchmark]

It's a good idea, one of probably a million good ideas that become possible after the financial world runs on DLT and digital assets. But the first step is changing the financial world. Banks need to make it possible before healthcare can take advantage of it and connect their internal software in whatever way optimizes the process.

And without wanting to start a lengthy discussion on American health care, I think the friction in payments is a tiny tiny part of the problem. Though of course it will help and should definitely speed up at least one part of the process.

[Vengefulseven]

6 hours ago, Benchmark said:

It's a good idea, one of probably a million good ideas that become possible after the financial world runs on DLT and digital assets. But the first step is changing the financial world. Banks need to make it possible before healthcare can take advantage of it and connect their internal software in whatever way optimizes the process.

And without wanting to start a lengthy discussion on American health care, I think the friction in payments is a tiny tiny part of the problem. Though of course it will help and should definitely speed up at least one part of the process.

And that is the goal.  I would start slow with the area I know best which is the clinical trial finance side, which are negotiated between hospitals and pharma companies.  Once I had something functioning and some traction, then we would experiment with rolling out something similar between hospitals and insurance companies.   The clinical trial side is a relatively simple transaction in comparison with the hospital to insurance route.  The insurance companies add a complex third party to the mix, so a solid foundation would be helpful before diving into that mess.  I have contacts in medical systems that would be very interested in tech like this. The hard part is getting them to buy in enough to also convince their more stubborn peers, but that is the challenge we all face :).   

Also, hospital is a blanket term.  This could be private practices, community groups, medical universities, etc.  Honestly, the smaller private practices would be more likely to change. Their pockets are not as deep as the big medical systems, so recouping costs quickly would be a massive benefit that allows them to compete in this very difficult market.   It may also sway more of them to get involved in research initiatives, as many physicians are scared away from clinical trials due to the ill-informed perception that it is a black hole for your budget.