A New York-based medical practice has gone back to the future with a service offering same-day house calls. Sickday Medical House Calls, which is emerging from a Manhattan medical practice in business since 2001, sends doctors and physician associates to homes, offices and hotels in Manhattan. Unlike most private practices, clinicians are available seven days a week from 6 am to 11 pm. Spending an average of 30 minutes with each patient, Sickday docs treat common conditions like abdominal pain and vomiting and bronchitis, do diagnostic exams, write prescriptions, order and interpret tests and make referrals to specialists and hospitals. The group collects fees up front, though patients can conceivably bill insurance for services rendered. While the group's release doesn't cite prices for services, it does make reference to the growing lack of consumer health insurance in the U.S., so I'm guessing this is structured to be reasonably affordable. What's more interesting is that Sickday plans to license its model nationally over the next several months. This sounds like a smart, scalable convenience model which will compete with retail clinics. Shrewd move.
To learn more about Sickday:
- read their release
- visit the Sickday website