Health and Medical Support
Realizing a world where everyone
can enjoy
the best medical care
and support
We want to use information technology to connect people and medical care.
We are contributing to the creation of an environment that supports health by enabling all people to access cutting edge medical care, early illness detection services, and preventative healthcare at any time, anywhere.
A healthcare app that supports everything
from health care consultation to online medical
Healthcare Technologies Corp., a SoftBank Corp. subsidiary, provides the HELPO healthcare app to improve the health of each individual by promoting new business in the healthcare sector, thereby helping to ensure that Japan's unique universal healthcare system will be maintained for future generations.
The main service of HELPO is a Health & Medical Consultation Chat which allows users to freely consult with a medical team of physicians, nurses and pharmacists 24 hours a day, 365 days a year when they start to feel unwell (during the presymptomatic disease phase) or when they feel uneasy about their physical condition. Based on the consultation chat, users will be advised on the appropriate action to take. If the user needs to see a physician at a medical institution, the app will provide guidance on the appropriate medical department. If treatment with over-the-counter drugs is appropriate, the app will provide information on the suitable medicine available on HELPO Mall, an e-commerce website for over-the-counter drugs.
HELPO also offers telemedicine service during the day on weekdays and, since July 2022, on weekday evenings and weekends. This allows HELPO to offer a full range of healthcare services, from health and medical consultations to telemedicine. Beginning in December 2022, in addition to existing services for companies and municipalities, HELPO launched services for individuals. SoftBank Corp. will continue to expand HELPO's functions through co-creation with partner companies to promote healthcare DX in Japan.
Ugokuma App to Promote Walking and
Address Geriatric Frailty
The “Ugokuma” application, which supports measures against frailty, a frail state of reduced physical and cognitive functions that lies between the state of needing nursing care and health, aims to help seniors make walking an enjoyable habit.
In addition to basic pedometer application functions such as the number of steps taken, distance walked, and calories burned, the application also measures the degree of frailty by answering 10 questions and has a conversation function with the character “Ugokuma,” which praises and encourages the user, and through mutual communication, fosters motivation to continue walking This feature helps to foster motivation to continue walking.
Healthcare AI Platform
Collaborative Innovation Partnership (HAIP)
SoftBank Corp., BIPROGY Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., IBM Japan, Ltd. and other partners established the Healthcare AI Platform Collaborative Innovation Partnership (HAIP) on April 1, 2021 to promote the spread and development of healthcare AI services. As at end of May, 2024, HAIP comprises 17 domestic enterprises, including private companies, universities and national research institutions. Working with the Japan Medical Association's Promotion Center for AI Hospital & Clinic, HAIP aims to spread and develop healthcare AI services by providing an integrated healthcare AI platform encompassing the development, evaluation and implementation of healthcare AI.
This healthcare AI platform comprises the AI Development Platform, which enables the development of healthcare AI using medical data; the Lab Platform, which supports AI evaluation; and the Service Platform, which provides healthcare AI services. Moreover, HAIP is engaged in R&D on platform technology issues that are common to the entire industry and cannot be addressed by individual companies, such as the utilization of various healthcare data, the establishment of common connection procedures based on next-generation standards, providing a high-security environment to guard against threats such as ransomware, and complying with international standards such as HL7 FHIR.
The development of medical AI services will provide a variety of assistance to tasks previously only performed by medical professionals, such as diagnostic imaging, genomic diagnosis, differential diagnosis and deciding treatment courses. By aiming to develop the service in a form that can be easily introduced at rural clinics and other facilities, we hope to encourage the widespread use of healthcare AI services and help eliminate disparities in medical care.