For a small fee, CrowdMed allows users to upload their case to its website and within 90 days provides them with a list of the most probable diagnoses that have been provided by those offering their medical knowledge. The diagnoses are also accompanied by explanations, according to the report.
CrowdMed has $2.4 million in venture capital funding and has the support of medical professionals who see the value in crowdsoucing. It “may be a value for difficult diagnoses,” said Michael Hograth, MD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Health System, in the report. Amin Azzam, MD, director of the “problem-based learning” curriculum at the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, believes the model could be useful for training medical students, according to the report.
However, critics of the company have serious concerns about its business model. Some critics have privacy concerns regarding the protected and sensitive medical information members upload on the website, according to the report.
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