meds.fyi

Inspiration

It is an unfortunate truth that the United States healthcare system is inaccessible and exploitative. Both hospitals and big pharma overcharge for what should be considered a basic human right. Despite the state law that requires price transparency from hospitals, most institutions still have not abided by this law. I wanted to create a way for citizens to take matters into their own hands and inform each other of discrepancies in prices for different procedures (eg, tests and surgeries) or medications. This project is conceptually similar to levels.fyi, hence the name.

What it does

This platform helps patients and their caretakers become well-informed about the prices of different procedures and medications, so they can make the best decision regarding their care. Users can create and use anonymized accounts, upload information regarding the procedure/medication they paid for, and view others' information to compare. Users without an account can still view the anonymized price information.

How I built it

I used React.js on the frontend, Firebase for authentication, Leaflet.js for the map, and Cloud SQL & App Engine from Google Cloud for the backend.

Challenges I ran into

As a solo hacker, I did not have someone to help me debug so I either got help from the mentors or pushed through Googling for hours. I had a lot of trouble with Cloud SQL but I really wanted to learn how to create a full-stack application with Cloud products so I persevered.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm proud of how much I accomplished in approximately 10 hours and all that I've learned in the process.

What I learned

I successfully created, read from, and wrote to a MySQL database using GCP's Cloud SQL (this is my third attempt). I learned how to use fetch() and I learned how to use Firebase Auth.

What's next for meds.fyi

I didn't finish the map, but I wanted to have separate maps for each procedure/medication with the color/popup of the pin showing the details of each datapoint so that users could visualize the differences. I also wanted to create time-series graphs for how the procedures/medications changed prices over time. Improving the UI and user experience is also on the list.