Part of the increasing medical costs we see comes from the need for diagnosis via either a doctor's visit or, in the case of poorer people, a visit to the emergency room. Often, perhaps 60% of the time, the condition is trivial.

The Diagnostic Kiosk uses a diagnostic plate preloaded with illness specific reagents, which can be processed and read automatically. The patient has a blood sample taken by the kiosk, using a diabetes meter type built in to the plate, which is then developed with appropriate chemicals, and next inspected using a built in computer vision system, all in approximately 4 minutes The end result is a recommendation printed out.

For most illnesses, a treatment, such as bed rest or cough mixture, is all that is required.For more serious conditions, the patient is referred on into the system, with the benefit of the possible illnesses diagnosed or at least the elimination of false possibilities.

The Diagnostic Kiosks will be deployed in pharmacies, urgent care, doctor's surgeries and emergency rooms, and will offload trivial illness cases, and substantially improve more serious diagnosis quality and speed. In these environments, someone will be available in case of difficulty using the Kiosk, and to handle any follow-on into the system.

With development of appropriate reagents, a rapid STD/AIDS test can be created, with Kiosk deployment in clubs, bars, etc. A version for remote location operations would provide a means for bringing quality health care in under-developed nations.

The impact on health, and health costs for all of these approaches will be substantial