Dr. Drew Pinsky, better known for his talkshow Dr. Drew on HLN, has joined the board of advisers at Heal, an on-demand in-person house call service, according to a company statement.
Pinsky is one of a clutch of talkshow hosts moving into healthcare startups. Although some might see them as a mascot of sorts for their respective businesses, they are also well positioned to talk up these companies on their respective talk shows, increasing consumer awareness of digital health and especially telemedicine on TV and social media.
Earlier this year, Co-founder Nick Desai said it would expand into 10-15 cities. Although it provides mostly primary care services, it plans to increase those services such as providing an X-ray service for people with mobility issues. It also has said it would add an IV service. It uses medical assistants to drive doctors from house to house after users book the service online.
Phil McGraw who hosts the show Dr. Phil on HDTV network, co-founded telemedicine business Doctor on Demand. Although it has focused on primary care services, it has also expanded into telepsychiatry and recently replaced its CEO Adam Jackson with PayPal executive Hill Ferguson.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has faced criticism over medical claims for products promoted on his talk show, c0-founded ShareCare, which developed a personal health coaching and health risk assessment tool. It has developed an app AskMD for these health assessments and an app that assesses the user’s voice for signs of stress. He co-founded the business with Jeff Arnold.
