NEW YORK – Epocrates is No. 1 on Fast Company magazine’s list of 10 most innovative companies in healthcare. Two other healthcare information technology companies – Voxia and GE – made the healthcare list at No. 3 and No. 7 respectively. Cleveland Clinic came in at No. 4.
Epocrates also was singled out as No. 10 on Fast Company’s list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies 2011 (Apple, Twitter and Facebook were the top three).
Fast Company has a penchant for naming top 10, or top 500 – or any number companies – in specific fields.
It put Epocrates at No. 1 in healthcare innovation, according to the magazine’s website, “for creating software that gives doctors and nurses instant information on drug-to-drug interactions, treatment recommendations, and more on their mobile devices or laptops.”
Coming up from Epocrates: mobile access to electronic health records.
[See: New networking platform connects docs via smartphones.]
Voxia, which develops mobile apps that coaches users with chronic diseases such as diabetes, is No. 3 on the Fast Company list. The company recently worked with the U.S. government to launch Text4Baby, a mobile education program for pregnant women, and its work in poor countries like Rwanda has been a lifeline, according to Fast Company.
[See: Text messages used to reach expectant, new moms.]
Cleveland Clinic came in at No. 4, Fast Company says, “for rethinking the entire hospital experience, from the buildings to the hospital gown, with an eye to delivering a better patient experience.”
Fast Company notes that ombudsman complaints dropped over 40 percent in 2010 compared with 2009. Patient satisfaction scores have gone up, and medical outcomes have been better across the board.
[See also: Our work, our opportunity, our goal.]
GE was selected for its mobile ultrasound machine. Called the Vscan, the device is the size of an iPod, connected to a short wand.
[See: Handheld ultrasound market poised for rapid growth.]
“It works just like the bulky conventional ultrasound machine,” says Fast Company, “providing an instant visual image (in color or black and white) inside the body, beyond a patient's vital signs."
Other healthcare companies on the list are:
- SynCardia Systems – No. 2
- Safepoint – No. 5
- Envoy Medical – No. 6
- PharmaSecure – No. 8
- Neurovigil – No. 9
- Second Sight Medical Products – No. 10
As introduction to its top 50 innovative companies, Fast Company said:
The world “will be ruled by the kinds of companies on this list. They're nondogmatic, willing to scrap conventional ideas. They're willing to fail. They know what they stand for.”
