MediFind Launches Second Opinion Finder, A First-to-Market Feature Connecting Patients to the Right Care

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — MediFind, an advanced platform that uses artificial intelligence to help patients make more informed health decisions, today announced the launch of the first Second Opinion Finder that is freely available to healthcare consumers and the medical community across thousands of health conditions.

The case for getting a second opinion is well-supported by research. A 2017 study by Mayo Clinic found that nearly 90% of patients seeking a second opinion receive a new or modified diagnosis. Further, 21% of people received a “distinctly different” diagnosis, meaning that 1 in 5 people were diagnosed completely incorrectly. Another recent study by Johns Hopkins analyzed medical death rate data for eight years and found that medical errors are to blame for more than 250,000 deaths per year in the U.S. This accounts for 10% of all U.S. deaths and makes it the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. But far too few patients actually take the crucial step of pursuing a second opinion.

Doctors often have different views on the best treatment path, and consulting with multiple experts can help ensure that patients are making the most informed health decisions possible, especially for serious, complex, and rare diseases.

The value of a second opinion comes from making sure that opinion comes from an expert and that the patient is presented with all options. The MediFind Second Opinion Finder achieves both objectives by using powerful artificial intelligence and objective data to identify doctors who are experts in a specific medical condition, but who are likely to have different insights about care options than the first doctor.

MediFind identifies these doctors based on three main components:

Expertise. Who are the top experts for a specific health condition? MediFind identifies the doctors who are at the forefront of their field for thousands of individual diseases.
Distinctiveness. How different are these experts’ profiles from the originating doctor? MediFind builds sophisticated profiles from many data sources that indicate how “connected” doctors are to each other, whether through publications, training, or referral patterns.
Location. Where is the patient located, and how far are they willing to travel? MediFind identifies doctors nearby, and also allows users to filter by search radius.

For people facing a serious medical condition, time is precious. But the number and complexity of the choices they have to make can be overwhelming. Making the wrong choice can delay life-saving care. MediFind can help people find medical experts and options quickly.

“Medical science is advancing daily, and there are so many options and new treatments available, including thousands of clinical trials,” said Patrick Howie, CEO and founder of MediFind. “Experts don’t always agree on a care plan, so patients and their families need a resource to help them understand where to turn next to make sure they’re making the very best choices for their health. With our Second Opinion feature, people can, for the first time, quickly and easily find doctors who can provide new viewpoints on their care, instead of having to rely on personal referrals and limitations imposed by health systems.”

Howie understands the need for fast access to information on complex health conditions firsthand. He created the site after losing his brother to a rare form of cancer several years ago. The family spent hundreds of hours researching doctors and treatments, but it took months to find a surgeon with the right expertise and a year to identify novel treatment options. With MediFind, patients can now identify experts and connect to care significantly more quickly.

The platform also provides research summaries and information on clinical trials in plain language, using advanced analytics to locate relevant data from the hundreds of thousands of research reports, presentations and clinical trial results that are published each year. Medical knowledge is growing at a rapid pace, making it a challenge even for doctors who specialize in a related field to keep up. Now patients can quickly access curated summaries to help them make more informed decisions.

Second Opinion Finder is available now on the platform. To learn more about MediFind, please visit www.medifind.com.

About MediFind
Founded on Rare Disease Day in 2020, MediFind is a proprietary technology platform that uses big data to help connect patients to the right care team and treatment protocols faster, improving their chances of optimal health outcomes. With a searchable database powered by advanced machine learning and algorithms, MediFind makes it easy for people facing the most challenging health conditions to locate top doctors, review the latest research and learn about clinical trials. Research findings are summarized in plain language so patients can make more informed decisions faster, because when it comes to health, nothing is more valuable than time. Learn more about MediFind at www.medifind.com.

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