General THINKMD FAQs
What is THINKMD?
THINKMD is a social impact company founded by two University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine physicians and professors of Pediatrics. Its aim is to transform global digital health at the frontlines of care with clinical intelligence and analytics to enable better decisions, better data and better health.
What does it do?
THINKMD’s clinical risk assessment and data platforms transform physician-based knowledge and skill sets onto a mobile digital mobile health (mHealth) platform that allows a variety of unskilled and skilled frontline health workers and providers to perform comprehensive WHO compliant clinical evaluation of a patient(newborn through adults) The platform also includes THINKMD’s data analytics solution that enables implementing partners to leverage the data their users acquire to make data driven decisions and solutions with respect to user and program monitoring and evaluation, populations health and disease surveillance leading better public health policy decisions.
How does it compare with other clinical decision-making digital tools?
Who can use it?
THINKMD merges health knowledge with technology for multiple types of end-users. Currently it is used by doctors, nurses, Community Health Workers, school teachers, caregivers and pharmacy technicians . A user does not require any prior clinical training to utilize the solution.
In which areas can it /has it been used?
The value of THINKMD’s technology is that it can be used by anyone, anywhere on the frontlines of healthcare. THINKMD is currently active in three main verticals: urban & rural health, school-based health, and private sector workforce health.
Which settings can it be used in?
THINKMD’s platform is an offline-first progressive app that is OS agnostic, available in over 15 languages and features 200+ conditions and diseases. This localization allows the solution to be used by multiple types of end-users in any setting.
What apps have you developed to date?
THINKMD’s progressive web application (PWA) is available via THINKMD’s application or a partner’s application and is built using the latest web technologies (html3, css3, javascript). It is fully functional on- or offline on any web-enabled device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, PC) and is web-browser agnostic. The PWA and data offering comply with Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards.
What apps are you considering developing, both near term and longer term?
THINKMD will soon offer a new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded solution as an embedded THINKMD clinical API for any server based Health Information platform to support existing software programs, such as Whatsapp and SMS.
What evaluation has been done on THINKMD?
THINKMD’s technology has been featured in scientific publications, including in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, with its clinical assessments and triage recommendations scientifically validated to correlate between 80 -95% to that of a physician’s assessment. THINKMD is also included in the WHO compendium of innovative health technologies for low-resource settings.
Where has it been used?
It is currently used in 10 countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, USA and Zambia. It will be used in Cambodia in 2023.
What are the key factors a project/country should consider for taking a decision to use THINKMD’s technology?
In our implementations with partners, it is helpful if not critical to have key personnel in place who can serve as the main point of contact and champion of the technology. This ensures smooth adoption and sustained use. We also see significant value in having dedicated data and analytics colleagues within a partner organization who are already active in the project – these individuals serve as excellent points of contact, providing key insights on program/project data and requirements gathering.
What role will THINKMD play in the implementation/use of the technology?
Our team will work with an implementing partner’s country project or program to move through THINKMD’s standard and proven process of requirements gathering, technology configuration to local context, software and data analytics setup, training of teams (on both software and data), and launch. THINKMD would stay involved in a supportive role throughout the term of the project and contract.
Who owns the data resulting from the use of THINKMD?
The implementing partner owns the data. THINKMD has full access to the data for monitoring and analysis for quality and the development of new and improved clinical algorithms. THINKMD has a full data agreement in place which details where the data is housed, MoH compliance, integration and more, which is issued to partners during onboarding.
Is the platform Open Source?
THINKMD utilzes the Principles for Digital Development and follows the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Access Policy. You can read our full Open Source policy here.
Is the data interoperable with country led systems (e.g., DHIS2)
THINKMD’s technology and data solutions are HL7-FHIR-based, making the platform integration-friendly with a variety of complementary digital health technologies. Designed for interoperability and integration, THINKMD’s technology and data offering supports a flexible digital landscape of an expanding list of third-party tools, including DHIS2, RapidPro, tableau, Snowflake, Google Cloud, Heroku, AWS, OpenFN and Open SRP.
What is the cost?
Speak to THINKMD today about running through a demo of the platform, costing and more.