Ideomed ready to change the world - one person at a time

Growing, curious, optimistic, creative, confident -- all adjectives that might aptly describe a precocious college student preparing for graduation and ready to change the world. At the same time, these adjectives are equally accurate in describing Grand Rapids-based med-tech firm Ideomed. Including the part about changing the world.

Ideomed's first product is the web- and mobile-based patient engagement solution, Abriiz, an application that connects the patient, family, friends and health care specialists to better manage chronic health conditions.

In the past year the 27-person firm has moved to a new location on 4th floor of the CWD Building at 50 Louis NW, dramatically expanded the functionality of Abriiz, and has positioned itself as a national thought leader in mobile medical technology.

Brian Mack, director of marketing, explains the motivation behind the new space: "The move has been planned for some time to coincide with Ideomed's ongoing growth. It offers the opportunity to unite the Grand Rapids-based Ideomed team (we also have an office in Ann Arbor) in one space with room for future growth."

The physical growth parallels the added functionality to the Abriiz application. "We launched multiple Abriiz applications that can help with daily health management," says CEO Keith Brophy. He cites multiple conditions that Abriiz can now cover, including (but not limited to) congestive heart failure and other cardiac illnesses, diabetes, obesity, COPD, HIV and palliative care.

In addition to the new applications, Brophy says they have also introduced another level of gamification to Abriiz targeting adults called "Cardlings," which is part of the Ideomed core strategy in attacking health issues by changing a person's behavior. "Abriiz is really approaching health care from a behavioral science position. By and large the other players in the industry address symptomatic issues, but at the end of day, chronic illness is a behavior issue," says Brophy.

On a different stage, Ideomed is also focusing on plugging into the national conversation on health care. Mack cites Brophy's testimony before Congress as an example of Ideomed's opportunity to be a leader in health care. "Keith was among four thought leaders invited to present in conjunction with the Association for Competitive Technology, a trade organization that represents application developers," says Mack. "The testimony took place on June 27th, 2013, before the House Subcommittee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Health and Technology. It was an opportunity for lawmakers, in advance of the FDA's publication of their Regulatory Guidance on Mobile Medical Applications, to learn more about advances in the field of Mobile Health, and the leadership position that entrepreneurial ventures like Ideomed has taken."

Brophy remains extremely optimistic but realistic about the impact that mobile health technology will have on health care and knows he is in for a long journey. "Abriiz is a convergent point for data and intelligent analysis. We are in the early, most primitive stages of the product life cycle," he says. "We are using insights to refine the approach. It still takes effort to download the application and use it."  

Brophy says wearable medical devices hold the opportunity to make health care reminders "more fluid and automatic" and more effective, which he says will allow Abriiz to adopt and share the technology with their customers: "Health care is reinventing itself. It takes a lot partnerships and savvy to work side by side with the health care providers throughout the journey."

To support further growth, Ideomed is hiring, looking to add developers, designers and health care specialists.

To learn more about Ideomed and Abriiz you can visit their site here.

Writer; John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor.