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In the US, over 12 million adults seeking outpatient medical care are misdiagnosed every year, according to a study by BMJ Quality & Safety. DocPanel aims to change that statistic by providing easy access to the right subspeciality radiologist.
DocPanel is a digital health company that acts as a marketplace for subspecialty radiologists. The company works directly with medical providers and patients to bring high-quality radiology services to every care setting, regardless of location.
Having a radiology scan interpreted by a subspeciality radiologist, who focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of specific injuries and diseases using medical imaging techniques, is extremely important for pinpointing what’s wrong and creating a patient’s treatment plan. In some cases, a specialty read can mean the difference between life and death.
Revolutionizing Radiology
Nirish Mathias, CEO and co-founder of DocPanel, experienced the trauma that can come from an improper medical diagnosis. A misdiagnosis once prevented his own father from receiving the life-saving treatment he needed, and this incident inspired Nirish to pursue a life-long passion to limit diagnosis errors around the world.
Since 2016, Nirish and DocPanel have leveraged technology to connect medical providers and patients with the nation’s top fellowship-trained radiologists to ensure accurate and timely diagnosis.
As a mission-driven company, DocPanel is completely focused on improving patient outcomes by transforming how care is delivered.
“Everything we do, no matter who uses the platform, is driven around outcomes for patients,” said Nirish. “By taking technology and allowing the expertise to come into one single place, we’re actually fundamentally shifting how radiology is being delivered.”
DocPanel’s platform aggregates the unused capacity of specialists and makes it available in one convenient place. For hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers and other imaging providers, the platform helps alleviate coverage gaps, expands and enhances subspecialty service and delivers fast, reliable reports.
For patients, DocPanel’s service empowers individuals to make well-informed decisions about their healthcare while providing the clarity, confidence and peace of mind that come with a second opinion.
“When a specialist reads a case that a nonspecialist has read, at least 30% of the time the diagnosis is updated, upgraded or changed,” said Nirish. “Many readings are routine, but if one thing is missed or a cancer is staged wrong, it can have severe outcomes.”
Beyond human error, a shortage of local radiologists often forces patients to wait up to three weeks for a diagnosis, delaying care. But DocPanel’s network of over 700 fellowship-trained radiologists is able to deliver premium care to communities across the country with little to no delay. In fact, they’ve already provided over one million subspeciality interpretations, bridging the gap between the needs of radiologists, healthcare institutions and patients.
Expanding Impact
Since 2016, CQuence Health has worked alongside DocPanel to bring their vision to life, providing an initial capital investment along with strategic guidance. DocPanel also tapped into CQuence’s professional services to bolster their internal operations. CQuence helped DocPanel recruit some of their very first employees. CQ also designed a benefits program and 401K plan to provide a supportive environment for those team members, many of whom continue to work for and lead the company today.
“CQuence has helped us shape and make our vision a reality,” said Nirish, “And they are helping us through the next phase of the company as we begin to bring even more solutions to the industry.”
Now that they’ve established their primary line of business, DocPanel is beginning to explore new ways to expand its impact using its network, data and AI to help predict outcomes and support the pharmaceutical industry. In the future they envision, misdiagnosis will become a thing of the past, improving the quality of life of patients everywhere.
To learn more about DocPanel and the difference they’re making in healthcare, visit their website at www.docpanel.com.
