Medical House Calls Scheduled via App [Children's Health]

Summary

Back before telemedicine was commonplace, a healthcare startup called Mend offered a technology-enabled service for scheduling same-day or next-day visits from a medical provider at your home, office, or hotel. It was a simple as ordering an Uber and offered unprecedented convenience (at the time) at an affordable price, especially compared to seeking treatment at urgent care or emergency rooms. In 2016, Children's Health System of Texas acquired controlling interest in the company, eventually rebranding the service as Family Health On Call.

Main Users & Their Problems to Solve

The B2C Mend platform had two main user personas to account for:

• Consumer (sometimes the patient themselves, but more often the parent of a sick child)

• Healthcare Provider (mix of Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, and MD Medical Directors)

For the Consumer user, the biggest problems they experienced were:

• Difficulty getting same-day medical care without going to ER (long wait time, high $$) or urgent care (long wait times, med $$)

• Shuttling multiple healthy children to the doctor office or ER along with the one sick child, risking further exposure to illness

• No time or opportunity to sit down at a computer to schedule care

For the Provider user, the biggest problems to solve were:

• Didn't become aware of scheduled visits with enough advanced notice or critical details

• Getting scheduled for a visit across town that didn't account for travel time or traffic delays

• Needing to cancel or reschedule visits based on updated information or situations

Goals & Outcomes

GOALS

OUTCOMES

My Role & Lessons Learned