A health IT scheduling business designed to help consumers find everything from a podiatrist to a dentist has raised $7.2 million in a Series A round to help its expansion across the UK and into Europe, according to its blog. A TechCrunch article noted Zesty’s growth follows its beginnings in 2013 when it started with dental appointments.
Zesty’s service now covers a much wider range of healthcare professionals. Aside from dentists, users can also search for chiropractors, sports massage, osteopath or a physician through the national health service or a private insurer. Although it has focused on Greater London, the idea is to move into other cities across England, Scotland and Wales along with continental Europe.
The service also allows patients through its app to see reviews by other patients and emails users a reminder of their appointments along with a map of how to get there. It claims to confirm these appointments in under 60 seconds.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Innovation Capital led the fundraise, and Qualcomm Ventures, Mangrove Capital Partners and Maya Capital also participated.
Technology entrepreneurs James Balmain and Lloyd Price founded the business.
ZocDoc is one potential rival. The US-based physician scheduling business has expressed interest in expanding overseas. Physician scheduling services is one area which everyone and their brother seems to offer some sort of service, but the quality varies widely. A lot of practices have either adopted a white-label service or provide something in-house. HealthPost, a white-label business, was snapped by The Advisory Company in a $25 million deal last year.
It’s important to note that Zesty shares a name with a totally different business — a San Francisco based food delivery service.
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.
Photo credit: Photo from Flickr user Army Medicine]
