Health IT, Startups

A mobile health startup uses doctor moms for medical query business

A mobile health startup using doctors who are mostly stay-at-home moms to respond to medical […]

A mobile health startup using doctors who are mostly stay-at-home moms to respond to medical queries by text message has raised $6 million in a Series A, according to a company statement. In a phone interview with MedCity News, First Opinion co-founder and CEO McKay Thomas said the platform was designed to eliminate the needless visits to a physician, which it reckoned accounts for seven out of 10 office visits.

The investment round was led by first time investor Polaris Partners, with additional contributions being made by existing investors, including True Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Scrum Ventures and Monashees Capital. Thomas said the funding would be used mainly for developing strategies and partnerships. Thomas emphasized that it wasn’t interested in collaborating with insurers.

Here’s how it works. The San Francisco-based company offers a national service that matches up users with a physician. Although they are mostly primary care physicians it does have specialists including family medicine, dermatology, pediatrics, diabetes care, emergency medicine, radiology, and genetics. Access to its platform is free for consumers, but Thomas noted that access to specialists costs $9 per month. They communicate by text message through an iOS app. If the doctor can’t figure out the problem themselves based on a text exchange, she may refer it to a specialist or recommend they see their doctor in person.

First Opinion is celebrating its first anniversary and its doctors have done more than 100,000 consultations. Thomas said its doctors are full time working from 30-60 hours per week for a service that runs 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

Although all of its doctors are currently moms that could change as the company expands and grows, Thomas said.

The peak hours for its service tend to be evenings from 6pm to midnight, with early morning hours after 6am a close second, according to Thomas. More than 50 percent of the queries it receives are for general consults but about 24 percent deal with pediatrics.

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