I get asked a lot for my thoughts on the digital health market and why “now” is the right time for this industry to flourish versus past years. When telemedicine first emerged onto the market, it was a movement from offline urgent care to online, with Teladoc, MD Live, and Doctor On Demand leading the way. For decades, almost anyone in America could schedule a phone call or video call with a clinician for a variety of urgent care issues. These visits would often be part of a sponsored program offered by employers and insurance plans.
The current and future phase of telemedicine is very different from the first. Every healthcare category, niche and specialty are being recreated by a:
- Branded experience
- Customized intake and patient workflow
- Efficient connection to a clinician trained on a specific protocol
Digital health now caters to a large variety of conditions: men’s health, women’s health, birth control, migraines, weight concerns, and much more.
In the in-person medical world, no office could reliably have a detailed lengthy custom intake process before an appointment, scaled nationally. New, digital telehealth companies can rapidly analyze outcomes and results to perfect the process for a specific set of conditions and symptoms. It’s a race to provide the best workflow, care and distribution versus a static appointment type. As the market evolves, the best systems can win. This is new and different.
It’s early: Most people I know—even with a technology background—have never heard of 98% of the funded, digital health companies out there. Eventually, everyone will have access to an optimized care treatment via their employer, payer or direct-to-consumer.
SteadyMD’s opportunity to reimagine the clinician experience for the digital age, while providing much needed clinician capacity to the industry, allowing innovative companies in the space to thrive and grow. We want SteadyMD to be the best place in the world for a clinician to work. We pride ourselves on these fundamental values that have driven us for years: respect, trust, and autonomy.
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