Pasadena Company’s App Allows Patients to Ask Questions About Their Condition, Hear Their Doctor’s Answers Anytime

Pasadena-based HIA Technologies Inc. has launched a virtual platform that helps patients by letting them get questions answered about their health condition at anytime from their most trusted source: their own doctor.

The result can give patients and doctors peace of mind knowing the answers weren’t off some website, but came directly from the doctor.

Jolean Sheffield, HIA Technologies Inc. Vice President for Content and Marketing said through the virtual platform, called HIA TOPICS, patients can ask their doctors about their health condition, treatment options and upcoming surgeries through a voice-enabled conversational AI they can interact with verbally.

She said patients can access the application anytime in case they have questions to their doctors even before or after their scheduled appointment.

Sheffield said HIA TOPICS reinforces medical providers as the trusted source for health-related information.

“Physicians constantly combat misinformation during our limited time with patients. Through HIA TOPICS, my patients receive my evidence-based education in a format that is interactive and enjoyable,” said Alidad Ghiassi, Chief Medical Officer at HIA and Orthopaedic surgeon.

“My patients love to ask questions, hear my answers, and engage deeper with my digital agent. As a result, they’re activated to participate in decision making,” Ghiassi added.

CEO Vacit Arat said HIA Technology’s method of matching physician-authored responses to real-time patient questions simulates live interactions with accuracy.

“Patients get trusted information from the source, stop error-prone internet searches, and reconnect with their providers from the safety of home,” he said.

“Furthermore, clinicians realize time-savings by shifting educational upkeep to their digital agents and monitoring compliance with reports and interfaceable records,” he added.

According to Sheffield, one in three Americans or 77 million people in the country suffer from inadequate health literacy and this costs the economy about $106 to 236 billion dollars annually.

“Statistics like that cannot be ignored. People are literally hurting for accurate health information that they can understand and use to make better healthcare decisions.”

Sheffield said Google alone receives about 1 billion health-related questions every single day but she stressed that the advice about health care from unprofessional sources cannot be completely trusted.

HIA TOPICS, she said, aims to shift these questions away from potentially biased and flawed answers given by random websites towards health care professionals who can provide science-based answers.

With evidence-based education and engagement between the patients and their doctors through the application, Sheffield believes patients will be informed and better prepared to participate in clinical decisions.

HIA Technologies Inc. provides a variety of solutions designed to help businesses engage with patients throughout their care journey to achieve better health outcomes.