Neil Tierney

EHR provider Athenahealth is to acquire Epocrates for $293m (or $889 per doctor at current user numbers). A bargain at the price to take over the trusted channel to high net worth doctors. Athena is a relative behemoth, a 2,000 person publicly traded company hungry for technology. Gigaom issued a nice commentary today on this news alongside the ZipCar and Avis deal.

Ten years ago I contacted product development companies in New Zealand looking for an internship. Timothy from Locus Research replied. We had our first conversation from a phone box in Vietnam, followed by an interview over coffee in Tauranga. We agreed that I would produce a life cycle assessment of the Circadian System in exchange for the cost of a flight to Queenstown. The assignment was a blast and we’ve stayed in close contact ever since, with team members periodically moving between NZ and the UK.

Locus Research is one of the great product development teams globally.

Huge congratulations to Timothy, Blythe, Jono and the rest of the Locus team as they celebrate ten years of original product development!

Timothy blog and a preview to “A Measure of Success” here.

Why Andreessen Horowitz is investing in Rap Genius. So smart. So fun. This thinking is why A16Z is cleaning up

jayparkinsonmd:

I’m thrilled to announce that Sherpaa has raised $1.85 million. We’re now that much closer to our mission of making healthcare more accessible and more affordable. 

It’s so obvious that healthcare needs a big change. And it’s even more obvious that the current way of doing things is broken and unsustainable. But there’s a better way for the vast majority of us to experience healthcare. When the stats say that 70% of ER visits are not real emergencies and 70% of traditional office visits could be handled over the phone or via email, it was too much for me to handle. It’s always been my dream to redesign how you go to the doctor and make your life easier. Healthcare is just full of so much possibility and I truly believe it can and will be awesome. But when you don’t have a doctor you can email or call at any time when you’re in a bind, you do the best you can. You go to the ER because it’s accessible or you try and make an appointment with your doctor only to be told the first appointment is next week.

I can’t stand inefficiencies. And I can’t stand sitting around watching this broken system make everyone miserable and broke. So we’re building a company and a team to change that. We will make healthcare better. I’m confident of that. With this money, we’re stepping on the gas hiring an agile team of salespeople and developers to change healthcare. We’ve started in NYC and have plans to expand to other cities like SF, DC, and Chicago.

I couldn’t be happier with the team of investors who believed in Sherpaa:

• Bryce Roberts at Tim O’Reilly’s O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures 
• Phin Barnes at First Round Capital
• Craig Shapiro at Collaborative Fund

These guys are simply wonderful people. They’re friends and business partners. They’re fantastically audacious and ridiculously talented. Healthcare is a big fat hairy problem. And they’re willing to put up money, expertise, and their networks to make it better. There aren’t too many success stories in healthcare. But they’re willing to take that bold risk because they want to solve real, human issues that matter to our country. They are the perfect partners.

Bryce, Phin, and Craig…I can’t thank you enough for believing in us. Here’s to making healthcare better. Here’s to building a remarkable company that people love. Here’s to changing lives.

Full speed ahead, Sherpaa.

Oldschool. Health care professionals are measured on disease and death rather than health and happiness. Shortermism, just like the bankers.

BBC News Health - Medical students ‘not taught activity benefits’

“Most medical students are not being taught about the benefits of exercise for patients, research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests.

Researchers surveyed the UK’s 31 medical schools and found instruction was “sparse or non-existent”.

Only four taught undergraduates about the benefits of physical exercise in each year of their course.

Last week, a study found a third of UK adults do not do enough physical activity, causing 5.3m deaths a year.

In the new study, curriculum and medical studies leaders for each medical school were sent a survey which asked about the quantity and content of education about the promotion of physical activity.

They were also asked if the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO’s) guidance on physical activity for all age groups, published in July last year, was part of the curriculum.

Five of the schools said they did not include any specific teaching on physical activity in their undergraduate courses. And only half included the current CMO guidance in their course.

The total amount of time spent on teaching physical activity was “minimal”, the research suggests, averaging just four hours compared with an average of 109 hours for pharmacology (the effects and uses of drugs).

The researchers, led by Dr Richard Weiler, of University College London Hospitals, write in the journal: “A basic understanding of the benefits of physical activity, how to effectively promote it (with behaviour change techniques), and combat sedentary behaviour for different age groups underpin the ability of future doctors to manage modern non-communicable chronic diseases and follow clinical guidelines.”

And they suggest there is a “major disconnect” between undergraduate medical education, clinical guidelines for long-term conditions and national policy.

They call for dedicated teaching time on physical activity for all medical students, as a matter of urgency.”

(Image from the archive of The Old Operating Theatre)