By Physiciansnewsnetwork.com
JULY 1, 2014 - A new Florida-based start-up that is trying to break into the Los Angeles and Orange County market is proof that new business models will mean more choices not just for patients but also for physicians.
Medicast is a doctors-on-demand, location-based service available to patients 24 hours a day. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, where it launched in September 2013, it now has an office in Torrance. The app connects patients with physicians who are available for house calls in geographic areas and at times specified by the physicians.
Dr. Daniel Moghadam, an LA-based emergency medicine physician, said he joined Medicast to balance his hectic and demanding life as an ER physician with the more leisurely pace of making house calls to see patients when he not in the ER.
Dr. Moghadam is one of 15 doctors in LA and Orange County — most of whom are in urgent care, pediatrics and family medicine — who decided to give Medicast a try. Medicast provides them with malpractice insurance that covers house calls.
Patients have an option to sign up for an annual plan, which costs $39 a month and covers two house calls a year, or contact a physician on a case-by-case basis and pay a flat $249 fee per house call. Physicians earn 70% of the $249 per visit fee, regardless of the plan the patient is on. Patients can contact a Medicast on-call physician by using an app, Medicast’s website or a telephone.
Moghadam, who started with Medicast a month ago, told PNN that he would never quit ER. “I am a born and bred ER doctor. I like the rush, the urgency, the camaraderie, but I have done quite a few Medicast calls now, and I love being able to switch the pace and actually spend more time with a patient, getting to know them, answer all their questions, instead of feeling the pressure of 50 more patients waiting to see me in the ER when I am at the hospital.”
He said right now he is not cutting back on his time in the ER, he just adds house calls when his schedule is open, but he said in the future he might consider switching to doing more house calls.
Dr. Moghadam said 99 times out of 100 after talking to a patient he realizes the problem can be treated at home and the patient does not need to be taken to an ER. A lot of times it is just a matter of convenience for a patient too. “I tend to do a lot of night calls,” he said. “For people, going to an emergency room at 2 a.m. in the morning can be daunting sometimes.”
He said he was very impressed with the app. “I decided to set it to take calls within 50 miles of my home; some physicians are willing to travel farther.” The app allows him to switch his availability on and off at any time.
As healthcare start-ups battle for market share and try to anticipate the demand for more personalized care and access to medical services, it is yet to be seen who makes it in this space and which business models will make financial sense for both physicians and patients.
Dr. Sahba Ferdowsi, one of the co-founders of Medicast and its chief medical officer, told PNN that Medicast was accepted by the Techstars accelerator. Fewer than 1% of the companies that apply to Techstars are accepted, so Dr. Ferdowsi said he sees that as a testimony that they have a viable model. He said Medicast is also part of the New York-based Startup Health Accelerator.
The main challenge will be to reach a critical mass of patients so it will make sense for physicians to sign up with Medicast and at the same time have enough physicians in the network so enough physicians will always be available to care for those patients.
