HealthTap a Paolo Alto health information company already has an app on the market providing basic health care information to users. The current version has a network of 50,000 doctors where users can ask questions and get information.
On Wednesday the firm launched a new improved version of that app which will offer an almost Siri like experience for users, well almost.
The new app, which is called TalkToDocs, lets users do just that. Users are able to speak their questions using their own voice and then they get an answer back via text or voice message.
HealthTap’s CEO Ron Gutman told GigaOM that the app is still a “work in progress”. He also said that he’s using their users input to continue expanding the apps capabilities. He also said that the app is designed for busy people looking up quick healthcare answers and people with disabilities.
Currently people can speak questions like “Why does my throat hurt” and get a list of existing answers delivered back via audio or text that doctors have already provided. The app is drawing from the learning the previous app did. Through the millions of uses of the original app, TalkToDocs is able to pinpoint the best answers for questions but still allows users to see a whole list of answers to their questions.
HealthTap boasts that over 1,052,000 questions have been answered between the 50,000 doctors in the network. When a user asks a question on the original app or the new app a doctor will give an answer. Other doctors in the network are able to “vote up” the answer by saying that they agree with the original answer. It’s like those old toothpaste commercials “4 out of 5 dentists agree” you get the idea.
The new voice interface will allow users to ask questions and get answers quicker.
Check out Healthtap here download Talktodocs here.