Interest in Internet Pathology Consortium

[LADoc00]

Years ago, after reading a few articles on advances in telemedicine, I pondered whether one day small rural docs would be able to instantly confer with colleagues around the globe on difficult cases, eliminating the primary advantage big city med centers hold.....

Now Im considering dabbling in a new concept: "The Internet Pathology Consortium" name open for debate.

Basically, it is a real time teleconferencing service that would link small practices, outpatient labs and even med schools in a system that could eliminate the tedium of sending a case in consultation. The marketing of this would be the key: patients and clinicians would be getting the collective opinions of not 1-2 dermatopathologists who rake in millions at SF, but dozens of pathologists including dermatopathologists and relevant subspecialists like hematopathologists and soft tissue experts. This could be done cheaply, through a web portal complete with email/cell phone alerts when a case meeting a certain criteria was active in the cue.

Something like a pathology version of the Minority Report.

Thoughts?

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[quant]

Years ago, after reading a few articles on advances in telemedicine, I pondered whether one day small rural docs would be able to instantly confer with colleagues around the globe on difficult cases, eliminating the primary advantage big city med centers hold.....

Now Im considering dabbling in a new concept: "The Internet Pathology Consortium" name open for debate.

Basically, it is a real time teleconferencing service that would link small practices, outpatient labs and even med schools in a system that could eliminate the tedium of sending a case in consultation. The marketing of this would be the key: patients and clinicians would be getting the collective opinions of not 1-2 dermatopathologists who rake in millions at SF, but dozens of pathologists including dermatopathologists and relevant subspecialists like hematopathologists and soft tissue experts. This could be done cheaply, through a web portal complete with email/cell phone alerts when a case meeting a certain criteria was active in the cue.

Something like a pathology version of the Minority Report.

Thoughts?

Are you suggesting the "linux" way of doing things? ie,Open source??

If not so, for such a setup, what would be the business model?
Put in other words, how would one generate income? and who would take the money?

 

[LADoc00]

Are you suggesting the "linux" way of doing things? ie,Open source??

If not so, for such a setup, what would be the business model?
Put in other words, how would one generate income? and who would take the money?

You would generate income by an increased revenue stream from more outpatient clients. In and of itself, its not a revenue stream, its a marketing tool.

A marketing tool that is then taken to consumers AND clincians simultaneously. Why would you send the biopsy to personX when you can send it to the Consortium and have 6-10x as many docs review it...

Information is then fed back from the Consortium to clinicians and patients via a mobile-friendly secure platform with digital images.

to take this one step further, the Consortium could even market kits that patients could easily learn to biopsy themselves with, submit in formalin-free media that can fix while mailing (there many out there) and get their own private report back via the internet. Then decide if they want to seek further care as the report would include a list of Consortium-friendly clinicians on a separate page.

 

[quant]

You would generate income by an increased revenue stream from more outpatient clients. In and of itself, its not a revenue stream, its a marketing tool.

As a marketing tool maybe, but then it would be no better than pathologyoutlines.com/webpath/etc..
It would be a cool idea to start it out as an educative/"Pose-your-question" Consortium website. As it increases in popularity, pull in cash from the ad revenues of companies. A pathology equivalent of an AuntMinnie's
Mind you, in future, the revenue from industry in a rapidly modernising field such as path can be considerable.

A marketing tool that is then taken to consumers AND clincians simultaneously. Why would you send the biopsy to personX when you can send it to the Consortium and have 6-10x as many docs review it...

Extremely unlikely, since the most doctors would trust a pathologist in person,not a web based doctor.
For argument's sake, if you had a famous doctor on this consortium, then all the cases would get referred to him cutting down the legs out of the regular pathologists.
The few famous guys on the consortium would be swamped and then the turnover times would be so bad, the doctors would come back to their original pathologist.

Information is then fed back from the Consortium to clinicians and patients via a mobile-friendly secure platform with digital images.

It is eminently possible to do this and lots of people are trying it I guess.

to take this one step further, the Consortium could even market kits that patients could easily learn to biopsy themselves with, submit in formalin-free media that can fix while mailing (there many out there) and get their own private report back via the internet. Then decide if they want to seek further care as the report would include a list of Consortium-friendly clinicians on a separate page.

Well that train of thought also leads to the logical extension, why not market Do-it-yourself-Bypass graft kits
or
Do-it-yourself-Quantum calculation kits

Seriously though, you overestimate the capabilities of the general population.

Nice idea though...

 

[Jiminy Cricket]

Years ago, after reading a few articles on advances in telemedicine, I pondered whether one day small rural docs would be able to instantly confer with colleagues around the globe on difficult cases, eliminating the primary advantage big city med centers hold.....

Now Im considering dabbling in a new concept: "The Internet Pathology Consortium" name open for debate.

Basically, it is a real time teleconferencing service that would link small practices, outpatient labs and even med schools in a system that could eliminate the tedium of sending a case in consultation. The marketing of this would be the key: patients and clinicians would be getting the collective opinions of not 1-2 dermatopathologists who rake in millions at SF, but dozens of pathologists including dermatopathologists and relevant subspecialists like hematopathologists and soft tissue experts. This could be done cheaply, through a web portal complete with email/cell phone alerts when a case meeting a certain criteria was active in the cue.

Something like a pathology version of the Minority Report.

Thoughts?

great idea....need agressive marketing.....ad revenue would be up the hizzy

 

[CameronFrye]

Years ago, after reading a few articles on advances in telemedicine, I pondered whether one day small rural docs would be able to instantly confer with colleagues around the globe on difficult cases, eliminating the primary advantage big city med centers hold.....

Now Im considering dabbling in a new concept: "The Internet Pathology Consortium" name open for debate.

Basically, it is a real time teleconferencing service that would link small practices, outpatient labs and even med schools in a system that could eliminate the tedium of sending a case in consultation. The marketing of this would be the key: patients and clinicians would be getting the collective opinions of not 1-2 dermatopathologists who rake in millions at SF, but dozens of pathologists including dermatopathologists and relevant subspecialists like hematopathologists and soft tissue experts. This could be done cheaply, through a web portal complete with email/cell phone alerts when a case meeting a certain criteria was active in the cue.

Something like a pathology version of the Minority Report.

Thoughts?

The technology is certainly starting to get there. We're currently setting up a system for overnight frozens in which the attending can just go to a webpage and see the slide that is currently being looked at on the frozen microscope (by the fellow or resident). I've seen this system on a few trial runs and it really is impressive. The web image has great resolution and updates almost in real time (when changing to higher power or moving to various places on the slide).

 

[PathResAP]

At our residency program, the attendings use the remote microscope routinely , especially on frozens late at night. It seems to work pretty well and I think you have a great idea. It seems to me that pathology is largely living in 20th century technology and has yet to truly embrace and take advantage of the power being generated from the information technology revolution that we are all a part of. In medical school, I helped set up a web site for neurosurgeons in the US to remotely evaluate CT and MRIs from Russia and China. It worked well but was never really a money maker.