Push Health

When we opened Accesa Health in 2008, we were confronted with the handful of advertising options that local businesses face to help customers find them:  print ads (yellow pages, weekly mailer services, flyer services, etc.), and the internet.

Print ads seemed like an expensive proposition, demanding upfront fees with no guarantee that customers would show up.  The internet seemed like a big place for a small brick and mortar health care business to advertise, but we found Google AdWords which would let us take baby steps with spending and iterate quickly on messages.  It would also, theoretically, connect us with patients when they actually needed our services, not randomly as with most print ads.

With health only comprising 2% of reviews on Yelp, the big unknown at the time was would people use the internet to shop for health care services?  My partner and I still remember the first patient who came in and said that he had found us on the internet.  It was a so-called aha moment, but there were problems.

I love UBER.  I think the so-called sharing or convenience economy is great.  My first introduction to “black car” service was when I worked in New York City in the late 90’s.  It was certainly a step above the yellow cab and 3 steps above the subway, but I was only able to experience it because my work was paying.  A decade + later and UBER has effectively brought that service experience to the masses, myself included.

What I like most about the likes of UBER and airbnb is that through elegant technology they have empowered the interested individual, created better capacity utilization and access, and lowered prices in the process.  They do have the smartphone, ubiquitous internet connectivity, and deep social graphs to thank for making it possible to scale their businesses like never before.  I am hopeful that many of these same developments can positively impact health care.

While Uber and airbnb have encountered and will continue to encounter significant resistance surrounding existing regulations and tax authorities, I believe that what they face is nothing compared to what we call SUPERFECTA Health -- four business environment characteristics that create a complexity unique to the health care industry.  And similar to winning a Superfecta bet in horse racing, creating an efficient marketplace while managing for SUPERFECTA Health is a long shot.

In 2007, my business partner and I began our journey to work on health care price transparency and access.  We studied the retail-clinic models that were popping up like Minute Clinic, Redi-Clinic, and Health care Clinic.  We liked the simplicity, but didn’t want to be constrained by operating within a retail store and accepting insurance seemed like a strange thing for everyday health care needs.

In October 2008, we opened Accesa Health, a brick and mortar walk-in medical clinic in Torrance, CA.  Our biggest decision at the time was to stay 100% outside of the insurance world, which would help us manage SUPERFECTA Health.  As such, we had to find patients that were willing and able to pay out of pocket for health care needs.  As discussed here, it was not a simple road, but we were determined.  We also knew that we needed to make the experience incredible so our patients would want to come back when future needs arose and would tell their friends about us.

Over a period of several years we learned the ins and outs of running a 100% self-pay health care facility from connecting with self-pay patients using the internet, to actively listening to and providing the care desired by these patients, to setting up and managing health care vendor relationships.  Over 22,000 patients, nearly 80,000 total visits and 5-Star Yelp reviews make us feel that we are doing something right.

CHALLENGE

An ER doctor who gladly provided care to her trusted network for everyday health care needs, found herself frustrated by the process.  She knew that there had to be a better way than the back and forth texts, emails or calls, notebook documentation, and calling in prescriptions.  As an “office-less” doctor, she didn’t have any work software that she could try to use or existing vendor relationships.  She wanted a free, easy-to-use mobile app that would streamline the process.

SOLUTION

Connect: Using Push Health’s simple invitation process, the doctor sent electronic invites to her personal network.

Practice: Push Health made it easy for her network to request care when they needed it and for the doctor to handle the care in an organized fashion (message, document, e-rx and e-order labs).  The first-of-its-kind lab integration with Quest Diagnostics was a big bonus because it provided easy access to affordable testing for her friends and seamless results retrieval for her.

IMPACT

We know that it can be a difficult and daunting task to figure out how to grow your practice.  We wanted to share three SIMPLE and FREE best practices for strengthening your online presence that we have seen work for others.

Build Your Doximity Profile Doximity, an online physician's network, can help strengthen your virtual presence with both medical providers and patients.  By building your profile on Doximity and including links to your websites (if any) and your Push Health "Request an Invite" page, your search engine optimization (SEO) can greatly benefit from Doximity's web presence and its relationship with U.S. News & World Report.  Improving your SEO will help when people are searching online for you or your services.  When building your profile, you can include up to three web addresses under "Links".  Doximity is also a great place to connect and share with colleagues.

Embrace Your Social Networks Like most services, health care is still very much driven by word of mouth referrals. By posting your practice information and interesting articles on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter, you create an easy way for people in your networks to connect with you while greatly increasing the likelihood of them using your services and telling others about you. Remember that it is not a "one and done" process. We recommend posting at least once every 2 weeks. Build a Presence on Yelp People are definitely using Yelp to search for health care services.  List the key types of services you would like to provide when building your Yelp profile.  You can get started at Yelp business.  By building a listing on Yelp and using Push Health as a patient’s access point to you, you can start to build a brand within your community.  Patient’s will definitely leave positive reviews if they like your service as seen at our sister facility Accesa Health.  

Message Your Patients Sending messages to your patients definitely increases their loyalty and satisfaction. Push Health offers a simple and secure way to message your patients without sharing your personal contact information.

Please let us know how these three simple tips work for you.

CHALLENGE

A doctor wanted to offer virtual visits as a service through a convenient mobile practice platform to her current patients and as a way to attract new patients without paying for expensive practice software and lead generation services.

SOLUTION

Connect: Using Push Health’s simple invitation process, the doctor sent personalized electronic invites to her current patients and network.  She also posted her custom Push Health sign up link on her website, Facebook page, & Twitter feed to attract new patients.

Practice: Push Health made it easy for her patients to request care when they needed it and for the doctor to handle the care (message, document, e-rx and e-order labs).

Transact: The hassle-free process of setting her professional fees delivered 100% price transparency to her patients and the simple checkout process made paying for her services a breeze.

IMPACT

CHALLENGE

A doctor wanted to launch and grow his own telemedicine practice focused on self-pay patients without paying for expensive practice software and lead generation services.  He focused on three primary requirements: 1) easy-to-use and effective tools to engage new patients through digital & social media, 2) an intuitive and patient friendly mobile practice platform to manage care, & 3) a simple way to connect with vendors and to take payment from patients.

SOLUTION

Connect: Using Push Health’s simple invitation process, the doctor sent personalized electronic invites to his current network.  He also posted his custom Push Health sign up link on his Facebook page.

Practice: Push Health secure & private messaging made it easy for his patients to message him about their needs and desired telemedicine appointment times.  The smart and simple practice tools (document, add-a-note, e-rx and e-order labs) have made it easy to manage the patient care.

Transact: The free e-invoice feature delivered 100% price transparency to his patients while the simple checkout process made paying for his services a breeze.

IMPACT

It’s a pretty exciting way to kick off 2015 — we are launching our new App for iOS and Android.    In the new app, we added the "Activity" feature to make it a breeze for both medical providers and patients to stay on top of messages, prescriptions, lab results & more.

Flu activity is on an upswing. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) is reporting that 43 states are showing high or widespread cases. Learn more.

H3N2 flu viruses continue to dominate (>95% of cases).  In the past, H3N2-predominant seasons have been associated with more severe illness and higher mortality, especially in older people and young children.

There is a shortage of Tamiflu. This type of prescription flu antiviral drug works best when started soon after influenza symptoms begin (within 2 days). It is a good idea to call the pharmacy ahead of time to confirm availability and reduce delays.  Learn more.  Check price.

We were busy in 2014 building new tools for medical providers and their patients, including: - Secure messaging for improved communication - Streamlined lab testing through Quest Diagnostics - Prescription re-send and enhanced pharmacy finder - PayPal integration for simple, secure payment - Request an invite for easier sign up

We are excited about 2015 and look forward to making health care more convenient and price transparent for you!  Remember to add the Push Health icon to your smartphone so that trusted health care is only a few clicks away.