Health IT, Startups

Doctor house calls on-demand startups are getting so mainstream, Lionel Richie invested in one

Heath IT business Heal came out with an Apple Watch app this week to support […]

Heath IT business Heal came out with an Apple Watch app this week to support its online service to order physician house calls. Users pay $99 to bring doctors to their door within an hour, armed with digital devices from the likes of AliveCor and Cell Scope, according to a company statement.

But in a sign that concierge care services that Heal offers are becoming more mainstream, even Lionel Richie jumped into its investor pool. Other angel investors include Dr. Paul Jacobs — Qualcomm executive chairman, and former Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Jamie McCourt. TechCrunch reported that the company has raised $3.7 million to date.

Kidney specialist Dr. Renee Dua founded the company with an eye to providing pediatricians for late night visits to avoid a long, expensive wait in the emergency room, TechCrunch reported. Heal also provides house calls for adults. The physicians can do things like order labs, pick up medications and other pharmacy supplies and make referrals. It eventually plans to roll out other things like vaccinations and ultrasound on-demand. It’s currently limited to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

A $99 bill seems a little steep for a non-emergency visit, but its immediacy and perceived efficiency are what make these patient-centered concierge care services interesting and

The ordinariness of on-demand services from live-streaming video to pressing a button to summon a driver combined with the interest in providing patient-centered services has generated more interest in extending the service industry to healthcare. The in-person visits have a little more cache than a video interaction and companies like Go2Nurse, Pager, Curbside Care, and Medicast are betting that people who value in-person visits will be prepared to pay for it.

Photo credit: Lionel Richie photo by Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images]

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