After both of their families experienced obstacles in accessing the care they needed, Gil Addo and Carlos Reines started a company to make it easier for primary care providers to get advice from specialists. They co-founded RubiconMD, a New York-based startup that gives doctors access to consults from 120 of their peers across different specialties.
Swapping stories at an MIT Hacking Medicine conference, Addo and Reines realized they had a common goal. Addo shared how his grandmother had to repeatedly travel thousands of miles between Barbados and Boston for appointments after she had undergone surgery for a brain tumor.
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Reines had also faced a similar experience growing up in Madrid. His eye was injured while playing with friends as a kid. For the two years after that, he had to undergo surgery.
“I was visiting doctors’ offices five days a week, and ultimately suffered the consequences of my doctor not having access to the right expertise at the right time,” he said. “That was devastating for my family.”
Because of that, the two decided to focus on primary care, in hopes of giving patients access to better care without having to travel long distances and reducing unnecessary specialist visits.
Their startup recently raised $18 million in funding led by New York-based private equity firm Deerfield Management Company. Past investors also participated in the round, including Optum Ventures, HLM Venture Partners, Waterline Ventures and Heritage Provider Network. The company has raised $40 million to date.
RubiconMD said it plans to use the new funds to develop new product features and grow the company.
As part of the funding round, Dr. Julian Harris, a partner with Deerfield and trained primary care physician, will join the company’s board.
“We are at a crucial moment in the shift towards a value-based health care system, with private and public payers seeking to find innovative ways to improve quality and affordability,” Harris said in a news release. “By enabling primary care clinicians to practice at the top of their license, RubiconMD serves as a vital partner for the country’s most innovative primary care groups, helping them to improve outcomes for patients and to reduce costs for our system.”
Right now, RubiconMD has a wide variety of specialists on its platform, from dermatologists to cardiologists to dentists. They’re paid a small honorarium for their time, but Reines said most see it as an opportunity to share their expertise and have an impact beyond their practice.
“We wanted to solve that problem by letting primary care physicians, whenever they have a question, to ask,” Reines said. “We support primary care physicians so they can do more in primary care instead of rely on a referral process where in many cases, it’s not going to happen.”
Primary care doctors can ask them questions about a specific case, or even just for the latest interpretation of guidelines. Reines said the company has already facilitated a number of e-consults with infectious disease specialists on COVID-19, including how to differentiate the new virus from other viruses, current treatment options, and how to help patients who have other conditions.
So far, Reines said, RubiconMD has seen good results from the consults. According to an article published in NEJM Catalyst in 2018, primary care physicians with eight federal qualified health centers said the consults with specialists improved the care they delivered to patients. 75% said the consults improved their care plan, and 45% said it helped them avoid unnecessary labs, tests or procedures, according to the study, which was conducted by RubiconMD and the Community Health Center Network in California.
“We’ve been able to show very good results over the past few years where e-consults just really work. The outcomes data that we have is fantastic,” Reines said. “That’s been the best thing. Really seeing that we are able to have a real impact in our patient population but also those who are underserved and would never have had access to that type of care.”
Photo credit: Ridofranz, Getty Images
