Seven Gastroenterologists on the Biggest Opportunities for GI Innovation

As seen in Beckers GI & Endoscopy :

William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, FACG, FACP, RFF, Director, GI Physiology Laboratory, Co-director, Michigan Bowel Control Program, University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor): My Total Health is a health information technology start-up founded by researchers at the University of Michigan and Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The company's first product, MyGiHealth is reimagining the way that patients understand their GI illness experience and interface with healthcare providers. MyGiHealth utilizes the NIH Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) scales to assess a user's gastrointestinal symptoms. Proprietary algorithms allow MyGiHealth to focus on the symptoms that are present and ignore the ones that aren't. Information gathered by the system is integrated into an instant history of present illness, which can help a patient to prepare for their visit with a healthcare provider and help healthcare providers to quickly understand not only the reason for a visit, but also the depth and breadth of a patient's GI symptoms.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that histories obtained by MyGiHealth were more complete, better organized and more useful than histories written by gastroenterology fellows and attending physicians (Am J Gastroenterol 110: 170-179). Another study, which will be presented at Digestive Diseases Week 2015, found that MyGiHealth more reliably and completely documented the presence of "warning signs" than histories written by physicians. The information gathered by the system informs the creation of an individualized "education prescription" consisting of high quality, evidence-based animations and text materials to help a patient better understand the possible causes of and solutions for their GI symptoms. The MyGiHealth app is expected to be released in 2015.