This post has been updated from an earlier version.
Pager has inked a deal with Evolution Health, a healthcare staffing service that uses telehealth to help deploy doctors and nurses and other staff where they are needed, according to a company statement. It has also added Walgreens to its partners, co-founder and president Philip Eytan said in a phone interview. The partnerships give Pager the power to rapidly ramp up its house call-on-demand service and compete on a national level.
Evolution Health, which is part of Envision Healthcare, matches patients with clinical resources depending on their needs. It schedules an in-person visit or tele-consult and makes use of ride sharing services like Uber to transport clinicians to a patient’s home or office, according to the statement.
Evolution Health, together with sister companies EmCare and American Medical Response, has access to more than 31,000 hospital-based physicians, community-based paramedics, nurses, and advanced practice providers in 41 states and the District of Columbia.
Although Walgreens announced a deal with MD Live to provide telemedicine service though Walgreens’ app, which kicks off next month, Eytan said its collaboration enables the drugstore retailer to provide its customers more healthcare options. It signed the deal two and a half months ago and it has been live with its stores in San Francisco and New York City for the past 10 days.
“Walgreens was like: ‘As you are already in New York City and San Francisco, as you grow we will be happy to grow with you,'” Eytan said. “It is a distribution channel for us.”
He added: “We are really a triage platform. A nurse practitioner triages patients and directs users to the right doctor in the most efficient way.” He said telemedicine is useful but not a lot of physicians don’t feel comfortable treating patients over the phone or online. The partnership with Evolution Health will help address its staffing needs more efficiently and let it scale faster than it otherwise would.
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.
In addition to providing patient care, it could also provide support services such as delivering medication to patients and support medication adherence.
Asked about Walgreens deal to buy RiteAid, Eytan admitted that prospect was even more exciting than its partnership news.
Evolution Health, through its parent company, has relationships with thousands of hospitals, Eytan said. Those relationships will help it provide the means to integrate Pager patient data with their EHRs.
Los Angeles is the most likely next market in its expansion plans, Eytan said. Other markets its Evolution Health deal will support include Miami, Los Vegas, Chicago, and Boston.
Eytan clarified an article I wrote about a partnership with North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He said that when its deal with Evolution Health came through, it effectively negated the need for a partnership with North Shore and so although they had both been on board to do it, they did not actually sign a deal.
The partnership is the latest development with the business, which has raised $25 million in the past 12 months, Eytan said. Among its investors are Lux Capital, Montage Ventures, Goodwater Capital and Summation Health Ventures — a venture fund formed by MemorialCare and Cedars-Sinai health systems.
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