A device designed by the Polish startup HigoSense provides high-quality medical data that allows for quick patient diagnosis without leaving home. It will enable shortening the time of the entire process from approx. 2.5 hours to just 40 minutes
This groundbreaking telemedicine service is best suited for common upper respiratory tract infections. After the patient describes his medical history in the application, the device starts collecting his medical data, which are then sent to the Doctor’s Portal, where the specialist, having access to them, can make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment. What is very important is that the system is simple and intuitive to use, even for people without medical education.
The idea of founding the HigoSense startup was born in 2019 from the need for a better approach to medical care for families with small children. Łukasz Krasnopolski, the founder of HigoSense, came up with the idea to collect medical data at home and send it to the doctor, which would allow parents to avoid time-consuming visits, long commutes, and the risk of additional infections. The idea appealed to medical chains in Poland, but no one could have guessed on what scale it would develop.
The tests that can be performed with Higo are comparable to those that a doctor performs in a doctor’s office. These include measuring the temperature, taking a picture of the throat or skin lesions, auscultating the lungs, heart, and abdomen, or estimating the pulse. However, the biggest innovation of the project is that, for the first time, doctors can make diagnoses based on reliable medical data collected by the patient himself, which in effect takes them only about 4 minutes, not 15 minutes, as with the traditional method.
The system operates in the B2B business model, which means that it is not available for purchase directly from the company. The Polish Ministries of Health purchased 600 Higo Family devices for monitoring the health of immunocompromised children up to 18 years of age. In addition, it is also available in the largest private healthcare networks in Poland, and soon it will also be included in subscription offers. The company is also present in many European and South African markets, and interest from other countries is still growing.
HigoSense aims to streamline and simplify the process of obtaining medical data and to support the diagnosis process. To achieve this, the company uses AI to collect and organize large amounts of medical data to help doctors make diagnoses quickly and accurately. It is also looking for ways to help triage patients in various healthcare settings. A year ago, it raised EUR 5 million from investors.