Have you ever commented that a cold or a stomach bug seems to be “going around”? Does it seem like all your friends and family in a particular location are complaining about being sick all at once on social media?
Sickweather is an app that's counting on social media users to do just that; it provides real-time “disease alerts” pushed to mobile phones based on social data collection. But now, that data is going to be put to even better use. They have created an API to allow healthcare providers third parties access to the data in order to better understand health trends.
“”Our goal is to get more healthcare companies and other entities to plug in Sickweather to understand where real-time sickness trends are,” says CEO Graham Dodge. “It could help them do pre-diagnoses, and they can also share real-time data in a global database.”
We believe APIs could be truly transformative in healthcare, and that the use of data could substantially improve not only the patient experience, but patient outcomes. It's incredible that something as simple as complaining about your stuffy nose on Twitter could create positive health benefits for lots of people.
Check out our webinar for more information on how APIs are impacting healthcare.
