Today, the healthcare industry is at a technological crossroad. On one side, data gaps in the medical device supply chain threaten business performance, and most critically, the safety of patients. On the other side, both emerging and proven technologies like blockchain and barcodes, hold the keys to solving some of these pressing issues.
Soom sits at the intersection of this crossroad. Using semantic search and augmented data management, Soom creates a data fabric that bridges the information gaps between data sources and physical products. In short, the Soom platform enables product master data accuracy, data governance and error correction.
For medical device manufacturers, this means true enterprise data collaboration, eliminating errors and reducing backlog in the supply chain, improving IT efficiency and productivity, maintaining regulatory compliance, avoiding adverse events like product recalls, and most importantly, improving patient safety.
This is where we’re at today. But it was a collision of events—some within the industry, others more personal—that led us to this point.
Our president and CEO, Charlie Kim, is a successful business leader with deep experience in emerging technologies. He’s also an expert in supply chain management. But most importantly, he’s a father.
In 2012, his youngest daughter, Isabella, was born with a health condition that required a medical device to help her breathe. The following year, the device was recalled due to a manufacturing defect, but Charlie was never informed. He only learned of the recall after the device failed, threatening the life of his daughter.
As a patient advocate, Charlie became acutely aware that his family’s situation was not unique—incomplete information in the medical device supply chain made it difficult to inform caregivers of recalls, and there was no public online database where they could seek out this information on their own.
So, in 2015, when the FDA launched its openFDA databases—complete with a wealth of medical device product data like expiration dates and recall information—Charlie recognized this could help resolve the information gaps. Using mobile scan and cloud-based technology, a pioneer in this industry could connect this data with individual medical devices, giving users across the healthcare value chain complete, accurate product data.
And so, Soom was born. Meaning “breath,” Soom encapsulates all that the company stands for. Like a breath of fresh air, we’re rethinking how technology can advance the quality and safety of healthcare. For everyone.