What Your Patients Are Reading

Is there a doctor in the...phone?

The house call may soon be a video chat. In 15 states, a new app called Doctors on Demand is now available for iPhones and iPads and Android phones and tablets. According to the Doctor on Demand website, at launch there is already a team of US-licensed physicians across the country who are ready to take your video call.

The app allows patients to enter symptoms or concerns, pay $40, and be connected via video to a doctor. The app is not to be used for emergencies but it is designed for noncritical problems such as colds/flu, rashes, pediatric questions, sports injuries, allergies, and many general health questions. It uses the picture-taking ability of the mobile phone or tablets to provide the physician with images the patient may want the doctor to see.

According to TechCrunch.com (December 10, 2013), Doctor on Demand uses a HIPAA-secure network and synchronous video chat to allow patients to communicate with doctors. Former Stanford physician and former White House Fellow Pat Basu, MD, is the app’s co-founder and Chief Medical Officer. He plans to put together a multidisciplinary team of doctors so that eventually patients can be routed to a specialist based on keywords input at the start of the log-in process.

Doctor on Demand has raised $3 million in seed funding from Google Ventures, Andreesen Horowitz, Venrock, and Athena Health CEO Jonathan Bush, among others, and advisory assistance from a variety of physicians and entrepreneurs, even a former Senator.