subscribe
Seamless Web meets Healthcare
Seamless Web is one of my all time favorite NYC conveniences – go online and order food to be delivered from your favorite restaurants to the office without having to deal with people. I don’t have to call and be put on hold and then give my detailed order while the waiter on the phone sighs impatiently just log in and lunch magically appears.
I was recently intrigued by a company called Hello Health that works sort of the same way. The company, currently testing in Williamsburg and the West Village of NYC, offers cost effective health care for the uninsured by leveraging modern technology. For $35 a month you basically can email and text with physicians (office visits can cost $100 – $200 and there is no hospital coverage) to take care of your routine health needs.
PROS
- This kind of convenience totally appeals to my need for speed, my impatience with waiting for return phone calls and the fury I feel when I’m left in a waiting room more than 5 minutes.
- Offers a great choice for freelancers who are generally in good health
- Very cool application of technology
CONS
- While I’m all for the streamlining in health care this one has me a little bit worried. Doesn’t this arrangement make the doctors legal drug dealers? Do they need to see a patient who says they have Strep throat or do they just go ahead and prescribe? When I let my mind wander I think about all of the antibiotic resistant people there will be in 10 years.
- What about preventive care? Could a very serious condition go undetected or be mistreated because of the lack of face to face encounters? I know that traditional doctors are already nervous about losing patients now that Pap tests don’t need to be done every year (Bravo to our former client Qiagen!).
Personally, I’m also keeping my eye on Zocdoc.com which like my favorite reservations website OpenTable lets you find same day appointments with available doctors. There are patient reviews, bios and pictures of the doctors. This feels like empowerment to me!
share the love:
