Let’s Start a Conversation

When we started Abridge a little over two years ago, we grounded ourselves in a simple statement: that healthcare is about stories. These stories could take many forms, starting with the conversations people have with their doctors, and extending into the updates they give their friends and family. Stories can also be found in the notes that are captured in official medical records, and in all the ways people offer support to others in their community. Only a fraction of these stories are captured today, and even less of the information is accessible and organized in ways that actually help people understand their health, act on advice, and advocate for themselves. 

The simple statement bred a simple idea: if we could begin by helping people record more of these conversations, they would be able to reflect and learn from them. And if we could encourage enough reflection and learning, we’d give more power to the voices behind each conversation, and improve the healthcare experience for everyone.

As we’ve worked to turn this idea into a reality, we’re driven by the stories we hear from patients and doctors. We have sat on a couch with family pets in our laps, learning from a clinic administrator who had just lost a leg just how difficult it was to advocate for herself while in the hospital, even though she had worked behind the scenes in healthcare for decades. We heard from her partner how stressful it was to be a caregiver while always feeling like he was misunderstanding—or entirely missing—key moments in conversations.

We’ve been at a hospital bedside with a woman who suddenly fell ill while on a business trip out of state. It’s not difficult to imagine how somebody might want a record of unexpected conversations in an unexpected place. However, we learned that her true wish was to record her struggles with an inheritable disease, so she could help her sibling navigate the same diagnosis later. 

The willingness people have shown to invite us into their lives, sometimes at the most trying times in their lives, has been staggering. What it tells us is that there is something in this idea—of simply being able to record health conversations to review later—that resonates with people enough that they want their stories to be a part of our story. 

The willingness people have shown to invite us into their lives, sometimes at the most trying times in their lives, has been staggering. What it tells us is that there is something in this idea—of simply being able to record health conversations to review later—that resonates with people enough that they want their stories to be a part of our story.

It also highlights just how many stories are out there that nobody has heard yet, and our greater responsibility as a company to find ways to make them heard. 

It’s hard to imagine a more relevant time to be building a service dedicated to capturing stories and lifting up voices. Rarely has the raw power of the human voice felt more front and center than it has in the last few weeks. Whether it’s the sudden influx of doctors visits happening over the phone because of COVID-19, or the impassioned protests across America in support of Black Lives Matter, one thing remains the same: people realize that if they want to have an impact, they have to use their voices.   

Ultimately, Abridge is a healthcare tech company. We design mobile apps, write algorithms, and fix bugs in code. But it’s impossible to ignore how the things we do, use, and make fit into the bigger picture of our society. There are many things we want to do—and already are doing—to try to have a positive impact, whether it’s looking for ways to reduce and mitigate bias in machine learning models, or building services to help underserved communities access the care they need. We can’t wait to share more about these endeavors in future posts! 

But perhaps more than anything, the thing Abridge can do is listen. 

We want this blog to represent a collective story—at its core, a conversation. Let’s talk about how our healthcare system looks today and how it could look a year from now. About how you’re doing today, and where you dream of being in the future. About the challenges faced by both patients and doctors, and how we can use a record button, cutting edge algorithms, and empathetic design to bring people together to solve them. 

(And yes, here and there, we’ll probably toss in a few fuzzy photos of our pets or tales of our struggles to convince algorithms that we sing as beautifully as Freddie Mercury. All gravitas and no glee makes a Company Blog a dull read!)

So thanks for joining us as we continue on our mission to empower voices! We hope you’ll keep reading, and even consider getting in touch. You can always find us on the usual corners of the internet (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin), or just send a note to hello@abridge.com. 

Until next time, 

Abridge