ppx-TEC Founder Debra Griffin says she decided to start her company after a battle with breast cancer in 1989 when she found it challenging to get her hands on her medical data so she could manage her treatment. Additionally, her career with rural hospitals in Mississippi taught her that an individual’s access to share in the ownership of their healthcare data history is critical for quality care. Griffin feels that appropriate healthcare in America should be a basic right for everyone, and technology and new innovations can assist with bridging the health equity gaps.

The ppx-TEC idea is simple—put the patient at the center of their healthcare record-keeping by giving them access to their health histories on their smartphone. ppx-TEC’s core technology is an interoperability tool that makes it possible for healthcare providers to share health records with their patients via ppx-TEC’s unique ‘Share Screen.’

Along with patient records, Griffin aims to have ppx-TEC track patients’ vital signs and other health metrics to offer interpretations and advice based on machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI).

Because ppx-TEC is fully integrated into Apple’s Healthkit ecosystem, a patient’s Apple Watch can easily monitor various metrics and can be deployed in Remote Patient Management, adding to its value in helping patients and providers discuss healthcare decisions.

By combining the patient’s treasure trove of medical data in that app with artificial intelligence (AI), Griffin hopes to see that ppx-TEC can make preventative healthcare recommendations and, perhaps, use predictive analysis to flag potential problem areas.

“In this country, you don’t see half the people getting access to all the healthcare they need, including preventative—they pop into the emergency room with stage 4 cancer,” Griffin said. “If you have your medical data in your hand to look at or review, it might be more impactful for your choices. I call it ‘self-help plus medical care equals healthcare.’ Put the patient in the process.”

Of course, the world of medical data is fraught and complex—government mandates, security concerns and requirements, and all sorts of systems that store patient data. So a big part of finding a solution for patient data is figuring out who will pay ppx-TEC for their work now.

“ppx-TEC’s potential customers are entities that need interoperability compliance and want to pursue patient engagement,” said Griffin. “The initial customers can be managed-care organizations or entities involved in telemedicine, insurance or clinical trials.”

Griffin, who bootstrapped this project herself, received a “proof of concept” award from the Mississippi Seed Fund in 2022, which she says has helped her continue working with a developer on new app versions.

“I’m really hopeful that 2023 is the year that ppx-TEC will have many customers,” she said when discussing some of the larger companies and organizations with which she’s met. “I feel a couple of them are trying to see where it could fit and if they want to make the commitment now to either try to partner—or maybe an acquisition. But there’s nothing substantial I can say until it happens.”

In the meantime, she and her developer have been updating the app and its user interface, working to make it friendly for the patient and provider. In 2023, ppx-TEC will benefit as a Mississippi State University’s MBA Capstone Project, with MBA candidates working to help define marketing strategies.