History of ViewMedica Patient Education
Since 1998, Swarm Interactive has been setting the standard for internet-based and video-on-demand patient education. Today's powerful ViewMedica patient education library is the result of years of working with physicians in many fields of medicine.
1998
Swarm Interactive begins publishing interactive orthopedic patient education animations. Before Swarm's entry into the market, patient education on the internet consisted primarily of static images and text. Swarm's pioneering content is adopted by medical practices around the world, and a core library of several dozen animations is developed.
2000
Swarm Interactive begins publishing its medical animations in a new technology called Flash. The Flash format, improves the visual quality of the company’s medical animations.
2003
Swarm Interactive develops its first animation player, a small Flash-based application that manages its growing library of medical content. The player makes installation of the animations a one-step process and allows for seamless upgrades and improvements.
2004
Swarm medical content is now also published in Spanish. A partial German library is also created.
2005
Additional enhancements are made to the medical video player. The library, now named ViewMedica, grows to more than 100 animations.
2006
Voice-over narration is added to all our videos.
2008
ViewMedica grows to 400 animations covering orthopedic, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, ophthalmological, pain management and other medical areas.
2009
Version 5.0 of the ViewMedica player is released. The upgrade includes many changes and improvements to make viewing and administering the now 500 medical animations easier for patients and practices.
2010
Version 5.2 of the ViewMedica player adds support for iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices. The library grows to more than 600 titles.
2011
Version 6.0 of the ViewMedica player is launched. The programming behind the system is completely overhauled based on input from users and healthcare providers around the world. The library grows to more than 800 videos.
2012
The video library grows to more than 920 items. Subscribers to ViewMedica gain the ability to attach custom notes to any item in their library. Swarm adds a new Hospital TV Service to support in-facility closed-networked video systems. The iPhone and iPad ViewMedica experience is upgraded.
2013
Version 7.0 of the ViewMedica player is launched. The new system is reprogrammed from the ground up using modern HTML5 standards. Flash is no longer needed to see ViewMedica content. New features include social sharing, closed captioning and enhanced support for all smart phones and tablet devices.
2014
ViewMedica adds a playlist feature and a new service for streaming video to waiting room TVs called VMcast. Another new feature is called Markup Mode — draw on any video frame right in the player. Now, healthcare providers can create custom playlist presentations by combining ViewMedica videos, custom slides that they build and YouTube videos. For the waiting room, the new VMcast service takes advantage of playlists by looping them onto a TV.
2015
ViewMedica gets a new feature called Bumpers. Bumpers let medical providers play there own slides or YouTube videos before and after each of their ViewMedica videos. The video library now has more than 1,000 titles.
2016
New Desktop & Device Applications launched. These ViewMedica applications support all major computers and devices, including Windows and Mac computers, and Apple and Android devices. Free to all ViewMedica subscribers, the apps have all the familiar features of ViewMedica and let providers create a favorites list of ViewMedica videos.
2017
Version 8.0 of the ViewMedica player is released. It gives subscribers full-frame video poster images, and the controls now get out of the way when videos play. The library has more than 1,100 videos. A new app for Amazon’s Fire TV devices lets VMcast subscribers display local weather info and adds a low-bandwidth, local-playback feature.
2018
The ViewMedica On-Demand web player is now accessible, meeting WAI-A and section 508 standards. ViewMedica launches its new Dental library, with the full medical library reaching more than 1,250 videos. VMcast waiting room TV subscribers get new features: Promos, stronger stream management, and improved loop delivery.
2019
We launched a new pediatrics library and added more than 100 entertainment and relaxation videos. The full ViewMedica library hits more than 1,650 videos.
2020
To help patients understand the COVID-19 epidemic, we produce a dozen videos explaining the virus and vaccines, and offer them free for anyone to use. The pediatric video library grows to more than 100 videos, and we create new libraries for geriatrics and urology. The full ViewMedica library hits more than 1,800 videos.
2022
We launched new major versions of all of our applications. This includes features like a new slide builder with a variety of templates, the ability to schedule VMcast content, and permission settings for multi-user accounts. We added several new libraries, including audiology, geriatrics, IV therapy, and more. The video library now has more than 2,000 titles.