Startups

This startup wants to make it easier to get an appointment with a provider

AppointmentNotify, an early stage health IT startup out of New York City, has created a platform that enables individuals to get appointments with a provider when another patient cancels or reschedules.

Most people who have interacted with the American healthcare system can attest to the fact that getting an appointment with a doctor can entail a lengthy wait time. In fact, a 2017 Merritt Hawkins survey found the average wait time for a physician appointment in 15 large U.S. metro markets was 24.1 days.

This problem is what AppointmentNotify, an early stage startup out of New York City, wants to tackle.

“Appointments with your care providers are valuable. But a lot of times, they’re not treated as something of value,” AppointmentNotify founder Ali Nayyar said in a phone interview.

His company’s solution, he said, is an “on-demand marketplace for appointments.”

Here’s how it works: Patients register for AppointmentNotify and create a profile. They can then add certain providers and cancel, book or reschedule appointments on-demand. Through the platform, patients can text chat with their provider and get notified when new appointment slots open up in their provider’s schedule.

From the provider side, the solution works somewhat similarly. Providers register and set up a profile by adding staff and facilities. They can utilize the platform to cancel, set up or reschedule patients’ appointments. Additionally, they can use AppointmentNotify to message patients and staff members. Plus, providers are informed whenever a patient takes action on an appointment.

“Technically what it’s doing is catching those appointments that get freed up when patients cancel or reschedule appointments,” Nayyar said of the startup’s platform. It then “notifies the provider as well as other patients who have shown interest in those appointments.”

Patients don’t have to pay to use the HIPAA-compliant platform. Providers would typically have to pay to use the service, but AppointmentNotify is offering its platform to providers for free for a limited time.

“We are still in alpha testing,” Nayyar noted. “We are testing our platform internally before we can offer it as a beta or a pilot to any provider that might be interested.”

Though it’s still perfecting its approach, the New York City startup is currently a member of the StartUp Health Moonshot Academy. As such, AppointmentNotify is helping StartUp Health in its quest to achieve 10 moonshots, which seek to improve the health and well-being of everyone in the world. As part of the academy, StartUp Health shares the achievements of its member startups (like AppointmentNotify) with its audience.

“If we can start collecting the number of reschedules and cancellations that happen, we can reuse a lot of appointment slots that work for the provider as well as the patient,” Nayyar concluded.

Photo: baona, Getty Images

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