Prospective patients too sick or busy to visit a physician can now choose from several Uber-like apps that make use of new technology to bring doctors, physician assistants (PAs), and nurses into their homes, hotels, and workplaces with a few taps on a smartphone.
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May 2017Home services like these can also help provide patients who use the emergency department or urgent care facilities for conditions such as ear and sinus infections with continuity of care from clinicians or within health systems that have ongoing access to their health records. And the services are so convenient that a clinician is usually knocking at the patient’s door in less than 90 minutes.
“Our mission is to make it easy to see your doctor,” said Renée Dua, MD, a nephrologist and cofounder of Heal, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based house call healthcare service. She and her husband, Nick Desai, started the company after spending many frustrating hours in an emergency room seeking answers about their sick child. It occurred to them that it would have been much easier on their family if a pediatrician had been able to come to their home.