By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    stress management for healthcare workers
    3 Tips For Healthcare Professionals: How To Stay Beautiful, Healthy, and Happy
    November 2, 2021
    importance of relaxing on the weekend for your health
    Importance of Relaxing During the Weekend for Optimal Health
    March 25, 2022
    LASIK Eye Surgery
    What Is LASIK Eye Surgery?
    May 16, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    New Study Challenges Current Notions of Breast Cancer Biopsy Abnormalities
    February 5, 2014
    Health Insurers are Feeling the Pressure of Looming PPACA
    August 30, 2012
    demographics bar graph
    Demographics of CDHP Enrollees
    May 8, 2014
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Drug Database Brings Healthcare Big Data to Ordinary People
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Finance > Drug Database Brings Healthcare Big Data to Ordinary People
BusinesseHealthFinanceMobile Health

Drug Database Brings Healthcare Big Data to Ordinary People

Deanna Pogorelc
Deanna Pogorelc
Share
3 Min Read
SHARE

healthcare big dataOriginally published on MedCityNews.com. 

healthcare big dataOriginally published on MedCityNews.com. 

The healthcare industry has created more than 50 petabytes of data, but much of it never reaches the people who could benefit most from it. Former healthcare consultant Johnson Chen wanted to find a way to bring all of the useful, publicly available data from clinical drug trials to consumers who are taking those medications.

So he founded eHealthMe, a site that claims to have mined outcomes data on more than 45,000 drugs, vitamins and supplements. It’s put that into a database and created an algorithm that matches users with drug side effects or interactions reported by other people like them.

More Read

Stem Cell Treatment Helps Man With Degenerative Arthritis – Video
Concierge Medicine Will be Driven by Looming Doctor Shortage
Preparing for a HIPAA Audit and Avoiding Disaster [INFOGRAPHIC]
Clinical Trial Recruitment Considerations for 2015
Connective Tissue Disorders Push Collaboration Among Cardiologists, Other Specialists

The company’s personalized symptom checker crunches a user’s information and produces a personalized report based on the data it’s collected from published researching involving people of the same gender, age, medical condition, symptoms and medications. For example, a 57-year-old man who’s taking Lipitor might want to see if his seasonal allergy medicine would interact with it. He would go to the site, enter his information, and eHealthMe would show any of the adverse reactions for people like him held in its database. Meanwhile, it’s also crowdsourcing data from users when they submit inquiries.

A user can also post a specific question about a condition or medication, and the site uses its algorithm to invite other members of the same age, gender or medication routines to answer that question.

Founder Chen is a former healthcare consultant for Deloitte & Touche. He created eHealthMe for consumers but said that as far as he can tell, about 20 to 30 percent of the site’s users are actually healthcare professionals. Regardless, it’s not meant to be used as medical advice, but rather a reference point for patients and their doctors.

Chen said that about 2 million users visit the site each month. To hear him tell it, what distinguishes eHealthMe from the other consumer health sites – WebMD, MedWhat, Meddik, Symcat, should I continue? – is two things. “We consider the cause of a symptom, not only from a condition but from a medication,” he said. The second: “We can also tell you about other people like you.”

It’s a neat idea, but the self-funded site lacks a few things. It could use a design overhaul, as it’s confusing to navigate, and the data that’s presented from a query can be challenging to interpret. The other downfall is that its business model rests purely on an advertising at this point, although Chen said that could change as the company prepares to launch two new products soon.

A companion app called Med Buddy is available on Google Play.

TAGGED:drug trialshealth start-ups!pharma
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Image
BusinesseHealthHealth Reform

High Quality, Low Cost HealthCare Video Interview Series: Dr. Jennifer Dyer and EndoGoal

November 6, 2012

Reasons to Reform Medicaid

November 9, 2011
Healthcare Customer Service
Business

How Customer Service Is Your Best Physican Marketing Tool

December 12, 2014
measuring healthcare quality
BusinessFinance

Talking About Medical Quality: Consider the Source

July 2, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?