If you’re a healthcare entrepreneur, it probably doesn’t get much better than getting encouragement from Eric Topol. It’s a bit like a celebrity endorsement. Suffice it to say, Clinton Phillips, the CEO and founder of 2nd.MD, a telehealth service that seeks to cut the time it takes to offer second opinions to self-insured company employees from a group of more than 300 specialists from Massachusetts General to the Mayo Clinic, was thrilled when he spoke with Topol a few weeks ago.
In a phone interview with MedCity News, Phillips said: “He told me he loved this idea and tried to do something like it at the Cleveland Clinic. I have a huge amount of respect for him.”
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The keys to its service are speed, access and reducing healthcare costs. Here’s how it works. Users request a second opinion, usually when they have received a diagnosis or recommendation for a medical procedure. They are typically asked ahead of time to provide lab and test results, a physician’s assessment or recommendation for treatment for the patient’s condition. Within a few days, users can speak with two to five specialists, depending on their condition, through a 20-minute phone or video conference session. They can also access a summary of the opinions.
“We have taken these very hard-to-reach people and made them available to a [wide range of employees] and helped them save a ton of money.”
A former chiropractor turned entrepreneur, Phillips previously founded Aspen Back and Body, which was sold to Laser Spine Institute in 2009.
The 14 companies 2nd.MD currently works with represent a wide range of areas but tend to employ technology-savvy people who think nothing of searching for medical information online. It’s in talks with some big U.S. companies and particularly likes those with offices across the country and outside the U.S..
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“70 percent of the time medicine can be handled remotely or virtually, provided you have a good set of clinical information,” said Phillips.
Asked what the limits of the service are, Phillips points out that physicians don’t provide prescriptions or order procedures and it won’t work if you need to be evaluated. More often than not, the specialists will advise a less invasive course of action than what the user’s physician might recommend. Philips says that’s because they are specialists and are not being incentivized to order more invasive procedures. He said the speed and convenience of its service combined with the less invasive approach and having the flexibility to choose the physicians they want has led to strong patient satisfaction.
“More often than not the diagnosis may be correct, but the treatment may be wrong — maybe the [user’s] doctor has not seen as many cases of this condition as another doctor.”
It’s looking to raise $1 million to boost its technology team to help realize its goal of 2 million users in its network. It’s also poised to release a smartphone app to help users review physicians on its team, schedule appointments, note they want to conference in a loved one on a call for support and upload images they’ve taken with their camera. It will also help users get a translation of second opinion summaries into other languages.
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