Figure 1, the Toronto-based startup that coined the phrase "Instagram for doctors" following its launch in 2013, is introducing artificial intelligence to its free photo-sharing app.
Figure 1 crowdsources photos of medical case studies from physicians, nurses and medical students in 190-plus countries across the globe. The app includes built-in patient consent forms, face-blocking features and manual image editing to promote patient privacy.
Posts span clinicians seeking advice on complex cases, showcasing before-and-after photos of difficult surgeries and sharing unexpected diagnoses.
In one of the most-viewed posts in February, a radiologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center shared a case involving a toddler who fell while running — with a crayon in their mouth. The crayon was discovered one month later, after causing the child severe inflammation.
"We created Figure 1 to extend the reach of today's physicians," says Joshua Landy, MD, a practicing intensive care physician and CMO and co-founder of Figure 1. "Given the breadth and depth of medicine, it's simply not possible for one person to know everything."
In mid-2017 the company's leadership team — including founders Dr. Landy, CEO Gregory Levey and Chief Technology Officer Richard Penner — announced plans to introduce AI into the app's features. The company's goal is to provide clinicians with automated AI interpretations of electrocardiogram images, in addition to the existing input from its users.
"Access to the interpretation of EKGs is limited, especially in remote areas," Dr. Landy says. "Our plan is to bring instantaneous, accurate EKG readings to every healthcare professional with access to a smartphone, furthering Figure 1's mission to democratize medical knowledge."
Dr. Landy spoke with Becker's Hospital Review to discuss how a photo-sharing app fits into the broader healthcare landscape.
Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Why did you create Figure 1?
Dr. Joshua Landy: The ability to get fast feedback from a colleague can often change the course of a patient's illness, and I have personally experienced the dread of not knowing how to help a patient. Case sharing is a valuable behavior that already exists among healthcare professionals, and by building a global platform for healthcare professionals to share their medical cases and engage in clinical discussion, physicians are no longer constrained by location, resources or even time zone. Instead, they can tap into the knowledge of the Figure 1 community and instantly gain insights from millions of other medical providers.
Q: What challenges has Figure 1 faced since its launch in 2013?
JL: Medicine is a very opinionated field. As a physician myself, I know it can be difficult to keep an open mind about new ideas. If a company's values are not aligned with the values of the healthcare professionals they intend to serve, it's likely to cause confusion or rejection in the market. To improve our reception among healthcare professionals, Figure 1 has conducted — and continues to conduct — hundreds of hours of field research, interviewing physicians about their work, their interests and their opinions. Incorporating this feedback into our product and overall company strategy has proved fundamentally important.
Q: What advice do you have for other tech startups in the healthcare industry?
JL: My recommendation to new tech startups is to complement a clinician's work, rather than changing it. No healthcare professional wants to reinvent their workflow, myself included. When we created Figure 1, we designed it to integrate seamlessly within a clinician's existing workflow, complementing the way they practice in the real world. Eighty-six percent of physicians are already using smartphones in their workflows, yet most of the technology you find in a typical hospital seems like it was unearthed from a time capsule. By leveraging a behavior — case sharing — that already exists in medicine, we were able to deliver value by making it more privacy conscious, efficient and convenient.