Crowdsourcing Medical Diagnoses – It’s Happening Now

March 29, 2016 – The site is CrowdMed and on its home page it states “CrowdMed solves difficult medical cases online. Yours could be next.”

Crowdsourcing is to problem solving as crowdfunding is to new business start ups. Crowdsourcing is being used by engineers seeking help with complex problems. MIT’s Climate Lab uses ideas from the online crowd to devise solutions for climate change. Astronomers are getting ordinary citizens online to study and organize images of the lunar surface and other celestial bodies. Foldit, the online video puzzle game is using the crowd to fold and redesign proteins with a goal to cure diseases. Even Lego is using crowdsourcing to help it develop new product designs.

Computer manufacturer, Dell, has developed crowdsourcing programs for students to create world-changing big ideas. One of their big idea successes in 2013 was a solar-powered dehydrator that preserves food where there is minimal refrigeration.

A Canadian company I wrote about this month, General Fusion, recently worked with InnoCentive, a company that offers Premium Challenges crowdsourcing aimed at tapping “the world’s smartest problem solvers.”  General Fusion wanted to design a Metallic Pressure-Balanced Anvil Seal for its Magnetized Target Fusion system. The seal had to withstand the immense pressures and extreme temperatures required. InnoCentive reached out to its 355,000 registered problem solvers from nearly 200 countries and a MIT-trained mechanical engineer from Cleveland, Ohio, came up with the design earning a prize of $20,000 U.S. General Fusion’s staff of 65 full-time engineers would have spent years trying to design the seal but a 30-day crowdsourcing challenge gave them their solution. The mechanical engineer drew on his experience and knowledge of seals used in internal combustion engines to come up with the design.

So why not use crowdsourcing to tackle medical challenges? That’s what CrowdMed has set out to do.

Patients can share their undiagnosed, chronic symptoms online, setting the time allocated and reward offered to find a diagnosis. CrowdMed’s Medical Detective Network then goes to work. CrowdMed then filters the diagnostic solutions and suggestions from those in the network participating in the case. The patient then receives a detailed report with suggestions for the patient’s doctor for follow up.

CrowdMed is a paid for crowdsourcing site It does offer a free case submission option and three-different paid packages from $149 to $749 for a month. All cases submitted get a money-back guarantee.

CrowdMed was founded by Jared Heyman after he watched his sister suffer from a condition that took nearly three years to solve. The solution came about through the collaboration of an interdisciplinary team of medical experts and that was the inspiration that led Heyman to develop the network which today includes licensed physicians, medical students, biomedical scientists, naturopaths, other health practitioners and citizen scientists located in 15 different countries.

When a patient submits a case a lead licensed physician is assigned to serve as a moderator to ensure the final report focuses on the key issues the patient needs addressed. All members of the Medical Detective Network get vetted and rated to ensure a high quality result and to date CrowdMed claims it has helped resolve more than 1,000 cases with 60% of patients stating they have received a correct diagnosis or cure. This is corroborated by  the physicians of these patients over 50% of the time.

For the crowdsourced Medical Detectives, solving a patient case pays off. CrowdMed uses a point system that converts to cash rewards and Medical Detectives can improve their point ranking which also gives them greater opportunities to participate in complex cases and greater remuneration.

CrowdMed claims it can solve almost any kind of medical case including those involving psychological issues. Currently 10% of the case load is focused on mental health.