A telehealth startup out of Atlanta has developed a platform for scheduling and billing for hospital systems and physician practices that seeks to create a more flexible way of paying for medical interactions that aren’t currently reimbursed. Meet the MedCoin. ExamMed sees its platform as a way to help practices extend their services in a manageable way as telemedicine is adopted by mass market players like drugstore chains.
ExamMed co-founder Faraz Zubairi explained in a phone interview that the company developed the MedCoin as a way to change how we think of concierge services in healthcare, the value of these services and to make it easier to provide bundled solutions for families. It has a value of about $5, according to Zubairi, but each physician/practice decides how many MedCoins to charge for queries by email, phone or video, depending on the amount of time required.
One part of the company’s platform is to display this information as transparently as possible before an appointment is made.
“Cash is one of those things that can be enumerated in lots of different ways,” Zubairi said. “The goal here is on a transactional level to provide an easier way to bundle payments.
The platform lets doctors and nurse practitioners decide for themselves how much their time is worth in telehealth interactions. Of course if that helps consumers perceive these interactions as affordable that could advance the use of telehealth. But if physicians decide the majority of these interactions are actually more time consuming than they thought they’ll charge more. One example Zubairi uses is a child that is playing in the woods and gets a rash. Telehealth could be a useful alternative to making an uncomfortable child sit in an office by simply emailing an image from a phone to confirm whether an itchy rash is poison ivy or something else.
“Providers will be able to increase revenue that previously they were not able to capture,” he added. “The platform also lets providers see how much new revenue telehealth services have helped them capture.”
Zubairi, who co-founded the company with Jeremy Trabucco last year, sees MedCoins as an easier way to do things like purchase family packages. He also sees it as a way to make a very specific donation to a non profit, rather than writing a check. “Cash is something I can gift to an organization. But can I really control where that goes?”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
When patients book an appointment, they initially choose criteria such as location, specialty, language and affiliation. Patients can also schedule an appointment with more than one physician at once, such as their primary care physician with a specialist. The company has been working with just under 250 practices for the past year and tweaked its platform accordingly. ExamMed charges a monthly subscription fee for its service with volume based pricing for practices. Its offered on an enterprise basis for hospitals, institutions, and healthcare systems.
At a time when more and more practices are offering concierge services, Zubairi sees Med Coins as a buffer that will add an extra layer of security for patients. One downside is that it seems to ignore the risk that people might confuse MedCoins with digital currency Bitcoins, which trades mostly in unregulated overseas markets, particularly the security concerns surrounding them. But Zubairi followed up by noting that the company has encountered “no hesitations” by patients or providers get mixed up with the two forms of coinage. “[There’s an] increased desire to adopt MedCoins in a day-to-day busy practice setting,” Zubairi said in a emailed response. “And for patients a more seamless and transparent medium for healthcare payments. ”
On the other hand ExamMed’s setup shows a way to help consumers influence the telehealth market by voting with their wallets. I often wonder how much people are prepared to pay for concierge services on top of what they’re paying for health insurance. ExamMed could be a a useful way for practices to find out.
Update: An earlier version of this story referred to Faraz Zubairi as CEO. He is the co-founder.
[Photo from Flickr user Jason Rogers]
