Refine the Network, Revolutionize Medicine
Theranos is a company built on the idea that the current network for medical testing is too large and inefficient. The size problem lies not in the fact that the network is widespread, but more that the connections are not direct enough, thus increasing the margin for error. To better visualize the scenario, imagine this – a patient needs a blood test done, but in order to get their results, they first have to go to the doctor (+1 link), once their blood is drawn, it’s bottled and someone has to ship it out (+1 link), once the delivery company receives it, they have to transport it to any number of their facilities/trucks before it reaches its destination (+indeterminate number of extra links), the testing facility then has to unload it and move it to the correct department (+1 link), the department then has to perform the correct test and transmit the results back to the right doctor, (+1 link) who then has to receive it for transmission back to the right patient. Now imagine the patient needs several tests and this process occurs for every test they need, and that at any point along it, an error could occur that might necessitate a repeat from the very beginning – or worse, an incorrect diagnoses.
What Theranos does is provide any number of different blood tests given a very small sample of blood, and this sample can be taken at various Wellness Center Stations they have located in certain areas. The patient would merely have to go to the center, give their machine a pinprick of blood, and a few hours later, the technology would upload the test results onto a private server that both patients and (presumably authorized) doctors can access. This takes the entire shipping/unloading/test facility chunks out of the equation and narrows the network down to a clean bi-directional connection between the patient and Theranos, with further connections coming off the patient node to any doctors they share their results with. This also provides the patients with more social power since they’re able to directly access their test results without help from a doctor, which in turn means they can be more selective about who they go to for treatment.
Assuming Therano’s blood analysis technology/algorithms are solid, then it will also remove some of the negative effects of information cascade. For example, because multiple tests can be run on the same sample, there’s less margin for error on account of differences between samples. Additionally, because they can do a variety of different tests,there’s no need for one test to be done at one facility that perhaps only does xyz tests and another test to be done at a different one that only does qwe tests, which considerably minimizes error as well. Since the tests can be done in very little time, there’s also less of a chance that doctors will make incorrect diagnoses on account of incorrect test results because they or the patient are reluctant to undergo the entire process more times. As it stands, Therano still relies on people “following the crowd” to provide more informational and direct benefit effects. The more people use Therano, the more it can improve its services and expand to allow other people to use it (saving them time and money and granting them more power in terms of their own health) while also collecting a consolidated database of test results which can then be analysed by doctors/researchers in order to find connections, and consequently, cures and/or more accurate diagnoses.
Resources; http://www.theranos.com/easy-integration
http://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-is-a-billionaire-2014-9