Retail health has had a rough past couple years, but there are still reasons to believe in the convenient model that retail health offers, according to Annie Lamont, managing partner and co-founder of venture capital firm Oak HC/FT.
During a Wednesday panel at the Forbes Healthcare Summit in New York City, the moderator — Bruce Jepsen, senior healthcare contributor at Forbes — highlighted two retail health companies that Oak HC/FT’s had invested in the past, One Medical and VillageMD, and asked Lamont whether she would still invest in those companies today. She said yes for both.
Lamont noted that she was impressed when she first learned about One Medical’s model — which offers access to same/next-day primary care appointments, 24/7 virtual care and an app that simplifies scheduling, prescriptions and communication with providers.
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“It was like OpenTable. You could make reservations, you could email and text with your doctor. You could get your labs in New York, and then you’re in San Francisco traveling, and you can go to another One Medical, and they’ve got your medical record,” she explained.
One Medical came onto the scene about 15 years ago, and this type of convenience and seamless data exchange is still unusual, Lamont added.
She noted that while One Medical has always had a “really good model,” she believes the company made a mistake by buying Iora Health, a value-based care provider focusing on Medicare patients. In her view, Iora “never had a functional at-risk model.”
Lamont also said that One Medical has proven itself as a successful acquisition so far for Amazon, which finalized its purchase of the company last year.
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“[One Medical has] connectivity to the consumer, and that’s helped drive the model. They have done step-and-repeat on the model and have not destroyed it — they’re partnering with hospital systems across America. That’s worked for One Medical in the past, and it’s working now,” she declared.
As for VillageMD, Lamont believes that its core primary care model still works — despite hundreds of clinics closing after the company was bought by Walgreens.
“The challenge was that you have a pharmaceutical drug distribution company and retail company buying a healthcare company — and it did not really understand healthcare,” she remarked. “You cannot have growth at all costs.”
To improve primary care at scale, healthcare leaders have to think beyond simply creating more venues to deliver care, Lamont pointed out. Retailers often fail to connect patients to the continuum of care — and instead provide disconnected episodes of care.
Going forward, Lamont said she would like to see retail providers focus more on connecting patients to the greater healthcare system and any follow-up visit they may need.
Photo: lechatnoir, Getty Images