SIRUM

Background

In the United Stated, 18 million patients visit an estimated 7,000 free clinics to receive health care each year. These clinics face a hard choice: A clinic can either spend a large portion of its budget on medicine and medical supplies or refer its patients elsewhere for treatment. While referrals are cheaper for the clinic, they put a financial burden on the patient, negating much of the 'free' clinic's value.

For free clinics who purchase medication (at discounted rates or through some otherwise subsidized program), this extra cost can account for up to 20-70% of a clinic's entire budget.

Another option is medicine donations. Most free clinics rely heavily on donations from hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, non-governmental organizations, doctor's offices, and pharmacies. Clinic volunteers spend time filling out lengthy applications to multiple donors, never discover matches outside of their personal and regional networks, and must wait for a process that can take several months to complete and often allows medicine to expire before being used.

Although billions of dollars worth of medicine are donated in the U.S. each year, there is still no standardized system or coordination among these donations. So, only a small fraction of the available unused medicine is redistributed to underserved areas in time.

In the end, this means billions of dollars of useful and potentially life-saving medicine and medical supplies go to waste every year due to simple logistical challenges.

Mission

SIRUM is an online exchange that streamlines the process of matching demand for medicine in areas of need with the excess supply from pharmaceutical companies. After free clinics and donors register with the SIRUM network, their software automatically matches the available supply of medication with the demand from free clinics. This process occurs in real-time using simple information technology.

Full Circle Fund Role

SIRUM is a start-up organization founded by students at Stanford University. Their initial pilot program has already made a significant impact and the organization now hopes to expand access to health care through its technology platform. Their currently exists a unique window of opportunity where the need for their services is very great. To assist with their expansion and growth, Full Circle Fund's team will focus on three main work streams: capacity building and business model, domestic partnerships and expansion and international strategy.

NAME: SIRUM
LOCATION: Palo Alto
WEB: www.sirum.org
GRANT TERM: 2009-2010
TEAM LEADS: Michelle Branch, Tracy Dooley and Dion Ward