Eyeworld

20 Ophthalmology Business • September 2016 by Vanessa Caceres Contributing Writer Website uses crowdsourcing to solve tough medical cases How it works Via CrowdMed, users, including patients themselves, can post a case description online. The cases—using pseudonyms and ages only—provide detailed information about what the patient is experiencing, what medica- tions they have used, specialists they have seen, and any other relevant information available. The insights that patients have to share about their symptoms often provide useful information because they are living with it day to day, Ms. Greenwalt said. Each case is active for as long as the patient wants to keep it up, which is on average 60 days. The medical professionals who join CrowdMed and weigh in on cas- es are called "medical detectives." As medical professionals weigh in on more cases and provide clues that help lead to a diagnosis, they earn points and cash rewards, accord- ing to the site. medical symptoms. After watching his sister suffer, Jared Heyman and co-founders decided that a site that brings together the expertise of various medical professionals would be a way to help those living with long-term, difficult medical prob- lems, said Jessica Greenwalt, one of the co-founders. Mr. Heyman's sister eventually met with a multidisciplinary team at the National Institutes of Health and was diagnosed with fragile X primary ovarian insufficiency. She was treat- ed with a hormone patch and got better in 1 month. Her case was also correctly diagnosed on CrowdMed within 3 days of its posting. When launching the site, the founders based many of their con- cepts and ideas on what New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki wrote in his 2005 book The Wisdom of Crowds, Ms. Greenwalt said. Could ophthalmic physicians benefit from participating? C rowdsourcing—or the idea of letting a variety of people weigh in on an idea or question—is used nowadays in everything from adver- tising to design to customer service and even dating. For physicians and other medical professionals who want to help crack a tough medical case, the website CrowdMed (www.crowdmed.com) provides plenty of fodder via crowd- sourcing. The site was launched in April 2013 by three friends in Silicon Valley, one of whom had a sister who had spent more than $100,000 in bills and had seen more than 24 doc- tors to help diagnose her debilitating

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