Spring is (sort of?) upon us, which means stocking up on Claritin D, calling out sick and the often dreaded and nearly-impossible-to-get, last-minute doctor appointments as we say goodbye to winter. But a new wellness app could ease the headache by letting patients get the medical help they need through their phone.
Healthiest You, which launched at SXSW earlier this month, is not a fitness tracker. While it syncs to wearable devices from FitBit, Jawbone, and the upcoming Apple Watch, Healthiest You is more than that: It’s an all-in-one app that can compare prescription drug prices and medical procedure costs, and gives near-immediate virtual face-to-face access to health care providers — all done with your insurance.
“We want to be outside the insurance plan, so people feel like they can hack the system and get better drug prices, price procedures, and feel like you’re winning,” said Healthiest You CEO Jim Prendergast.
Healthiest You works as a point of contact for health insurance companies, patients and health care providers to all communicate. To use the app, users load their insurance information from their card, after which they can choose whether they want to set up a doctor appointment, talk with a doctor, price drugs or medical procedures, or find cooking recipes.
CREDIT: Healthiest You
“We believe the future of health care is on your couch — not going to different clinics — where people can get preventative medicine right there on your Smart TV,” Prendergast said of the app available on iPhone and Android devices. “If my child’s sick and it’s 10:30 at night, it’s so much easier to access my doctor while my child is resting.”
The app primarily focuses on telehealth or virtual doctor visits, and users have around-the-clock access to 2,300 doctors available to diagnose common ailments and provide medications if warranted via video call or email.
All personal information is encrypted, and Healthiest You doesn’t have access to it, Prendergast said.
Patients’ insurance may be billed for virtual visits but there’s no copay, Prendergast said. That’s because the app is considered a benefit that health insurance plans or employers offer as a part of health benefits package.
Healthiest You aims to show consumers that there are options beyond the emergency room. Americans visit the E.R. over 136 million times a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Much of those visits are unnecessary and could be handled by a doctor visit.
Moreover, people often delay getting medical treatments because of costs. In a 2014 Gallup poll, one in three Americans puts off medical help because of cost. Those who did were often uninsured, 57 percent, but about one-third of those with private insurance and another 22 percent on Medicare or Medicaid also deferred treatment.
Delaying care has a price, not only on patients’ health but the health care system overall. Waiting until symptoms develop or become intolerable means paying for more expensive treatments down the line.
The goal, Prendergast said, is get people to take more control of their health and be proactive. Right now, “patients are slaves to their insurance cards. They think that all they have to do is show their insurance card and everything is dictated to them.”
And technology can help break that mentality.