World's Top Doctors Going on the Blockchain
Mobile telemedicine platform MDsquare starting healthcare token economy
SEOUL, South Korea, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MDsquare, a new telemedicine app powered and secured by blockchain technology, will launch its TMED token sale this July. The service connects patients to medical specialists anywhere in the world, with integrated translation services when needed. Interpreters will be available for English, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian language support, with more Asian languages to follow.
The MDsquare app, which works on both iOS and Android, gives patients easy, affordable and secure access to top doctors and specialists, no matter where they are. This means peace of mind for families traveling abroad, and also allows patients to meet with experts in rare diseases, without the added burden of airfare. It can also help address extremely high medical costs in some countries.
Built on the Ethereum platform, MDsquare uses smart contracts that allow patients to make one payment that automatically gets split up and paid out to all involved caregivers and support staff: the doctor, the interpreter when necessary, and if the physician requests lifestyle data be shared from a fitness wearable, the IoT device manufacturer. Furthermore, being on the blockchain allows encrypted medical files to be shared securely, and even enables the patient to optionally sell anonymized medical data directly to medical research companies.
The TMED tokens going up for public sale this July will later become available on cryptocurrency exchanges. But to protect patients and doctors against the fluctuations of the volatile crypto marketplace, all payments for MDsquare services will be made with MD Points (MDP), a secondary non-crypto token which will be purchasable for a set USD rate from the MDsquare website or in-app. Customers will be able to purchase MDP with fiat or TMED, and also exchange it for TMED at the going rate.
MDsquare was co-founded in South Korea by Dr. Paul Oh, a career dentist who owns three clinics in Seoul, and Robert Hwang, a global ICT expert with more than 20 years of experience. Oh conceived the service to address inefficiencies he witnessed in the medical field:
"When diagnoses are confined to the hospital, it's inconvenient for the doctors and the patients. Doctors end up feeling stuck putting such long hours in at their office, and patients frequently break appointments because they can't reach the clinic in time," said Dr. Oh. "With MDsquare, doctors and patients can be connected on their own terms."
MDsquare is launching at a time when telemedicine is starting to take off across the world. According to a 2017 study by Grand View Research, Inc., the global telemedicine industry will have an expected market worth of $111 billion by 2025. The study also predicted telemedicine to become particularly lucrative in the Asia Pacific region due to a booming IT industry, economic reforms and low operating costs.
Telemedicine is also taking hold in the US. Tele-optometry company Simple Contacts recently attracted $16 million in funding, and five new bills have been introduced in the Senate to increase telehealth access for American teens with substance abuse disorders. With an estimated 1.7 million people of Korean descent living in America, along with notoriously high healthcare costs, MDsquare stands to address a sizable American market base.
Scientific research into the viability of telemedicine services is ongoing, with promising results. A recent investigation suggested doctors provided the exact same efficacy of care either virtually or in-person for follow-up visits by hypertension patients. Similar results were found in a study examining eye disease diagnoses of premature newborns by ophthalmologists. While telemedicine may not be appropriate for all health problems, it is proving to be useful in a wide range of applications.
MDsquare's token sale kicks off in July. For more information and to learn more about the KYC process, visit https://www.mdsqr.io.
Press Contact
Erik Cornelius
G3 Partners (Agency of Record)
[email protected]
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