Most people rely on their phones to check the weather, read the news, and scroll through social media videos. Why not rely on them for health education, too? With Looped, an app designed to build trust between patients and clinics, Sam R. Patel is hoping to revolutionize patient education and the way we learn about healthcare.
A New Model for Patient Education
The app might connect directly with patients, but Patel intends to market it toward clinics and healthcare practices. These practices can then pay a licensing fee to use a branded version of the app and encourage their patients to sign up.
“We said, ‘Okay, why don’t we have a white labeled product that the clinic can own,’” says Patel. “They have the patients download the app that’s branded to them. The patient would then be able to follow their healthcare treatment journey. It has a social media flare. It’s not boring. It’s not ‘Read this PDF.’ It’s not that. No one likes to read anymore.”
The app’s launch—which will be sometime in early 2025—is a timely one. The average American spends four hours and 37 minutes looking at their phone each day. For many, a large portion of that time involves looking at social media. So why not put healthcare information and patient education into a format that patients will be willing (and maybe even excited) to engage with?
“Social media is kind of the way of the world,” Patel says. “We want to tie those two worlds together, so we built an app that has a social media feel but gives expert-level care and information.”
How Looped Engages Patients and Clinics
Looped offers a wealth of options for patient education, but they tie together beautifully. The best way to understand how it draws patients in and benefits clinics is to walk through it.
“Let’s imagine a patient named Brad is doing a medical weight loss treatment, and he just started in the clinic,” Patel says. “Brad downloads the app and creates an account, and the clinic uploads the treatment. He wants to know what he needs to do before his first visit and what to expect. Brad can go and watch entertaining social-media style videos from experts or even the clinic providers on all the different treatments, and it’s further outlined per week.”
As the treatment date nears, patients can access additional resources, including videos on what to do before the treatment, what to do immediately after, how to manage follow-up care, and when to contact the doctor.
A Social Media Experience with Real Medical Expertise
Like most video-based social media platforms, Looped lets patients scroll or swipe through videos, skipping some and watching others through to the end. However, the videos on the app come from medical experts worldwide, so there’s no need to worry about whether the patient education is accurate. Videos are suggested based on an algorithm, so patients are more likely to see content related to upcoming procedures or procedures they’ve shown interest in.
Anyone who’s spent any time on social media knows that this kind of video feed is a sure way to keep users engaged. However, in developing Looped, Patel added another highly engaging element—gamified learning.
“At the very end, it rewards them for watching videos, it rewards them for being a good patient, it rewards them for educating themselves,” he says. “They can invest in additional treatments with their rewards because after they watch the videos, they get rewarded, and the rewards get them more treatments or discounts.”
A Global Vision for Patient-Centered Care
The patient education app is already well on the way to release in America, but Patel has plans for it to go even further. “This will be a global product,” he says. “We’re going to launch in North America. I’m meeting my counterparts in Europe in January to talk about a European launch sometime in the near future.”
Looped is an exciting development for clinic owners and patients interested in protecting their health. It’s also an inspiration for anyone in the healthcare field hoping to make a difference. Looped aims to increase patient confidence, trust, and knowledge, leading to clinics’ higher revenue, greater patient retention, and additional treatment interest.
For Patel, his experiences as an owner of multiple medical clinics and later as an international medical consultant ultimately inspired the creation of Looped. “I’ve learned so much in the consulting arena,” he says. “I’ve seen a lot of pain points that were consistent. I realized that there was no solution, and I just kept complaining about it. Then a bunch of great people and I came together and created a solution because we were just tired of waiting for one.”
Many people complain about the health system’s inadequacies, but few take action. Patel’s creation of Looped is a refreshing reminder that positive change can—and does—happen in our complex and often inefficient health system.
Featured Image: Courtesy of Sam Patel
Kyle Lewis is a seasoned technology journalist with over a decade of experience covering the latest innovations and trends in the tech industry. With a deep passion for all things digital, he has built a reputation for delivering insightful analysis and thought-provoking commentary on everything from cutting-edge consumer electronics to groundbreaking enterprise solutions.
