Your questions, answered
What is Alike and what can I do with it?
Alike is a consumer social health space (app available for both Android and iOS) where clinical information is derived from your medical records. Users are verified by their provider but remain anonymous — allowing a safe environment with accurate and up-to-date data to increase knowledge and understanding of various conditions.
We then match you with people like you from a clinical perspective, so people who are Alike can exchange ideas, empower one another or get emotional relief, and seek better care. It's a community of people like you that is far more rewarding, long-lasting and valuable, thanks to the power of crowdsourcing and big data, as well as the intimacy between people who are medically Alike. Unlike other platforms and one-size-fits-all medical solutions - We take a holistic approach and take into account all of your conditions, treatments, age, gender, and much more.
What is Alike’s business model?
The Alike app is currently free. In the future we may expand our offering to you with additional services and products for an added fee.
Why Should I connect to my provider?
We want to have your most accurate, up-to-date clinical data in order to match you with precision. We believe that you should review your medical files and approve or edit them accordingly, since they may be gaps between your EMR (Electronic Medical Records) data and your current state. We will then use the combination of your EMR data and your revisions to create an "Alike" profile that sits in our database. By verifying your health records we prevent fake profiles or those with ulterior motives from using the app. Alike is here to help you make sense of your personal clinical data and it all starts by connecting your medical information.
What happens after I connect my medical provider?
We will populate your profile at Alike with the information received from your provider about your conditions, medications, procedures and lab tests and we will match you with a group of people who are clinically similar to you.
Can I connect more than one provider?
Of course! The more you add, the more comprehensive your medical profile will be, and we'll be able to match you to people like yourself more accurately. In order to do so, go to "Healthcare Providers" in the "You" section in the app to manage your Healthcare Providers. You can always add more or sync existing ones.
If I can't find my provider, what should I do?
We currently support all "MyChart" providers. We are still growing and expanding our network, you can send us an email with your name and provider to ✉️hello@alike.health to be notified when we expand our reach. In the meantime, you can enjoy many different features of the app and add your conditions manually.
I can't find my condition - what should I do?
While Alike supports a wide range of chronic conditions, we cannot guarantee that we will support all conditions, particularly if they are extremely rare. As our mission is to bring people together to compare treatments and learn from each other, it is difficult to cover everything all at once. If your condition does not come up in the list, please feel free to e-mail us at Hello@alike.health and we will do our best to look into the matter.
What do I need to get started?
All you need is the username and password for your healthcare providers. Then download the Alike app from the App store and follow the easy to follow instructions in the app and start comparing your way to better health.
How do I get access to my medical records using Alike?
Alike allows you to automatically create your health profile through a direct connection with your health provider. You will be asked to authenticate with your patient login information. Your device will use a secure token that will be used to receive your conditions, your regular medications, your procedures and your lab tests. Alike and your device do not store your patient login information. Every Alike user is verified by their healthcare provider, this way we can be sure you are a real person with real medical records. This allows us to create a safe and secure environment.
Who can see my profile?
Your Alikes can see your profile based on your nickname in a completely anonymized, de-identified manner.
How does Alike protect my personal and health information?
Your privacy is a top concern for us and we make sure that all your information and interactions are anonymized and secure 🛡️. Alike is HIPAA compliant. Alike is committed not to sell your personal information to anyone and grants you the right to have your personal data deleted at any time.
What does de-identification mean?
De-identification means that any signifier of you vanishes from our system. It’s like you never existed in our files. All personal identifiers are removed from your files. Once a you connect your medical records, all PII are eliminated. Your email will be hashed and will be used in order for you to login when needed. Hashing algorithms are designed as one-way functions, meaning they cannot be reverted. Alike does not recognize you or have a profile of you, and as such no one could ever recognize you.
What type of information does Alike collect?
Alike collects your clinical and patient reported data in a completely de-identified manner so that it cannot be tied back to you in any way shape or form.
How will my data be used?
Alike use the wisdom of the crowd to help each and every one of us. At first your data will be anonymized and then collectively with data from millions of others will be used in order to generate personalized healthcare insights. All medical data is anonymized and no personal information is used on the platform.
What if my phone's lost or stolen?
In the unfortunate case that your phone is lost or stolen, no one will have access to your medical records as the app is secure. The app requires biometric lock or a passcode in the settings, the app will automatically lock after 10 minutes of inactivity. Please visit your settings now to add this extra security.
In order to use the app on your new device just re-download the app and log in using your email address.
Can I delete my account?
You can delete your account at any time, by going into the app’s settings. Once you confirm that you want to delete your account, your account and all your personal information will be removed from our database.
Can I delete my posts or comments?
You can delete your content by tapping on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of your comment or post and then selecting the delete option.
Can I hide a post from my feed?
You can hide any post if you don't want to see it anymore by tapping on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of your comment or post and then selecting the hide option. Once hiding - You will never see this post in your feed again or get notified about it.
What should I do if I'm being bullied, harassed or attacked by someone on Alike?
We're sorry if you're having a bad experience on Alike, and we want to help. You can report any abusive things they post. We take things down on Alike if they go against our Community Guidelines. If someone is bothering you in the chat on Alike, you can block them from sending you messages.
The best protection against bullying is to learn how to recognize it and how to stop it. Don’t retaliate. Most bullies are looking for a reaction, so don't give them one. If you keep experiencing issues with someone, please reach out to us via the customer support in the app or by emailing us at hello@alike.health, and we promise to help.
Can I edit my personal health information?
You can always edit or remove your medical records, such as medications, conditions or procedure so it will be up-to-date, but, keep in mind that this will change how we define “people like you” for your profile. After you make these changes to your profile, you will most likely see different types of posts and match with different people.
How is Alike-ness between me and my Alikes computed?
With the use of our propietary algorithms and machine learning capabilities we compute the similarities between every two medical profiles in our system - creating your Alike-ness Score™ - which enables us to make meaningful, life-changing connections between people who share the same medical journey.
How does Alike’s social feed work?
Your feed is personalized. If someone like you posts on a subject that is relevant to your medical profile, you will see it. You can also see how clinically similar another person is by looking at the circle around their avatar. To create a post, just tap “Create Post.” You can ask questions about your conditions, medications, and more, comment on other people’s posts, or share advice or experiences about your health journey.