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
    HIPPA compliance
    How Medical Office Staff Can Make Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
    October 29, 2021
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    February 10, 2022
    Which Mushroom Capsules Are Good for Your Health?
    May 5, 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
    hearing aid market
    Can You Hear Me Now? Another Health Market that Really Works
    November 21, 2013
    Food Biotechnology – Genetically Modified Food Controversies and Health
    February 27, 2018
    Bioethics Commission Calls for More Communication, Proactivity When Dealing with Incidental Findings
    December 14, 2013
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 20, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 20, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 20, 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: MetaMed Offers You a Team of Expert Research Physicians
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 > Technology > Medical Innovations > MetaMed Offers You a Team of Expert Research Physicians
Medical Innovations

MetaMed Offers You a Team of Expert Research Physicians

Deanna Pogorelc
Deanna Pogorelc
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

computer-documentation-business-meeting-588x391(First published in MedCityNews)

computer-documentation-business-meeting-588x391(First published in MedCityNews)

You might mistake Michael Vassar for one of those people who thinks computers will replace doctors. The futurist, entrepreneur and AI enthusiast is, after all, spearheading a startup that encourages patients “not to settle for an opinion” from a doctor or put up with the mass-produced product that is healthcare today.

But Vassar says physicians will always be a necessary part in medicine – just not as the determiners of diagnoses and treatment options.

More Read

How Big Data Hadoop Can Save Patients from a Crippling Healthcare System
Wi-Fi Alliance® and Continua® Health Alliance Collaborate on Personal Connected Health
Siri, Marry Me! and Other Tales from the Technology Frontier
The Importance Of Medical Labels And Supplement Labels
Here’s How Technological Innovation Is Transforming Healthcare

His startup, MetaMed, enlists doctors, researchers and statisticians to perform those functions through what it calls “personalized medical research.” The company provides on-demand medical research to patients with complex conditions.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on medical research, the startup reasons, but very little of it is actually used by doctors because they have limited knowledge capacity and time to spend with patients. Why not use people who are skilled at finding, evaluating and analyzing research to look at all of the options and pinpoint the best options for patients?

You might liken MetaMed’s process to how a lawyer builds a case, by learning the facts about the client, researching law, considering evidence and engaging in analytical thought. “There are very basic principles for how you make decisions in business , and somehow healthcare system doesn’t do that at all,” Vassar said. “It’s so odd that this business opportunity was just lying around.”

The startup’s clients first discuss their needs with a case manager. If they don’t already have a doctor they like to work with, the company facilitates that relationship. Then it collects all of their medical records and works with them to generate the right questions that will produce the information they are looking for. Its team scours primary and secondary literature and analyzes the findings for things like funding bias and publication bias.

The final product is a 10-page report written for patients and their doctors to understand and review together, Vassar said. Generating it takes about two weeks, but that varies with each client, as the process is very much a two-way conversation. In some cases, MetaMed might suggest to a patient that a certain genetic test or blood test would help its team’s analysis, or it might even design an experiment for a very complex patient.

One thing to be clear about is that MetaMed doesn’t pretend to be for everyone: At the most basic level, its services start around $5,000. It’s for people who have already spent tens of thousands of dollars in the medical system and have been disappointed with what they’ve gotten, Vassar said. “It’s for people who are willing to conclude that the system is the level of broken that it actually is, but people who still believe in science and values,” he said.

Vassar got the idea for the compay when he was working with outstanding scientists – which he considers an underutilized resource in society – during his time as president of Singularity Institute (which now goes by a more descriptive name, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute). He formally started it last August with a $500,000 seed investement from PayPal co-founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

The key players on the company’s 20-some person team also come from technology and information theory backgrounds. Chairman of the board, Jaan Tallinn, is a founding engineer of Skype. CEO Zvi Mowshowitz is a world class strategist and gamer.

Now the startup is working to get up to a scale where it can do more with big data and automate some of the diagnostic processes, as well as explore various partnerships in medical industry. It should also be able to address more minor medical inquiries in about three years, Vassar said. But whether it will it ever reach the point of being affordable to the average patient or being covered by insurance, apparently, isn’t really the point. “I looked at all of this from an economics and AI perspective,” Vassar said. “I’m really not trying to make a fashionable style of company. I’m trying to make a company that should have been made 100 years ago.”

TAGGED:MetaMedpersonalized medicine
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

Why You Should Care About Your Personal Health Record and Access to Your Data

June 13, 2014

mHealth on The Colbert Report: Dr. Eric Topol [VIDEO]

March 28, 2013

mHealth Summit Conference 2011: Thoughts and Takeaways

December 7, 2011
Medical InnovationsTechnology

5 Reasons Why Doctors Are Considering Artificial Disc Replacement Over Cervical Fusions

June 10, 2017
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?