Elise Craig of Xconomy recently shared how PokitDok, helmed by CEO Lisa Maki, is helping patients connect the dots of a fragmented health care system. Craig writes, “Maki and co-founder and chief technology officer Ted Tanner Jr. set out to create a resource consumers could consult to find unbiased information about their health care problems and options. The cofounders built PokitDok, an online platform that would help consumers make informed choices about their healthcare. Users can search for a particular ailment, see what kinds of treatments others have opted for, search through health care providers who have expertise in a given area, contact them directly, and compare treatment prices. Physicians and alternative health professionals can post their information, specialties, and even discounts to help consumers find what they’re looking for.”

Craig continues, “It was a natural fit for the two co-founders, who had spent the last couple years dealing with large amounts of heath data. As Maki was sorting out her health issues, she was also running a startup called BeliefNetworks with Tanner, working on a semantic system that enabled knowledge discovery across wide swaths of data. The duo sold the start up to a health benefits data company, but the buyer needed help finding new ways to mine the data. So Maki and Tanner were spending their days dealing with vast amounts of health information.”

Read more here.

Image: Courtesy PokitDok