← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Loading summary
Transcript13 lines
- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare Podcast. We are thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant leader. We're joined today by the Chief executive officer of Doc Go. We're joined by Lee Beanstalk. And Lee and Dot Go just completed the acquisition of another company called Steadymd. We're gonna talk today first about DotGo and Lee, then we're gonna talk about Steadymd and how this acquisition fits into their broader strategy and what they're looking to do. Can you take a moment and tell us a little bit about both yourself and I know you've got this fascinating background between Wharton being a White House fellow and a lot more. And tell us about yourself and about dotgo, and then we'll talk a little bit about the combination and why you folks are so excited about it, what it means and so forth.
- [00:51]
B
Lee, thank you, Scott. It's great, Great to be with you. So I'll talk about.go and really how I came to join the company and why I'm so excited about what we're doing and my background. So doco is a mobile healthcare company. Our goal is to bring care to where it's needed, when it's needed. And we think really the idea of if you meet your customer, if you meet your patients where they are, just like any other industry, healthcare is no different. Where you meet the customer, in our case, where you meet the patient where they are, they're gonna be more engaged, they're gonna be more satisfied, and ultimately they're gonna be more, more engaged with their health, which will ultimately lead to better health outcomes. And that's really what everybody wants. And so we developed a mobile healthcare platform where we bring care to where it's needed. We operate a medical transportation company at scale this year, we'll do over 750,000 patient transports. We go and deliver care in the homes of patients doing mobile labs, mobile phlebotomy, caregap closure, primary care, inpatient homes. This year, we'll visit over 150,000 patients homes delivering those services. And we also monitor, remote monitor patients, and we monitor over 50,000 patients today. So we're really operating at scale. We're doing the hard part. We're going to meet patients where they are. And ultimately we think that if you meet patients where they are, they're going to be more leaned into their health. And the more engaged they are, the healthier they'll be. And that's really what everybody wants. That's what the healthcare system wants, that's what the insurance companies want, and certainly that's what patients want. So we feel like we're really at the vanguard of where healthcare is going, the only way to do it. And this will get to my background, Scott, which I know you asked about, the only way you can really do this is by leveraging technology, right? I mean, this idea where the doctor comes to you is an old idea. That's the way it used to be 100 plus years ago, the doctor would come to you, but it was just wildly inefficient and the doctor was driving around and eventually they figured out, well, if I can just make all the patients come to me regardless of that experience, or if I just make every patient come to me, I could be more efficient. And so we use technology to be efficient in the field, orchestrating what we have over 1,000 mobile units across 30 states in the US and the UK with thousands of clinicians, EMTs, paramedics, nurses, advanced practice providers and our tech platform optimizes the right clinician with the right vehicle, with the right licensure, all for the right patient need, all clustered in a way that we can be super efficient. And that's the only way that you can make this work. And that's the tech platform that we've built. We're very proud of it. It's integrated with epic and that's the only way you can do. We believe what we do. And that's really my background is in technology. I worked for Google for 12 years before joining do and that's really the core aspect of what we're doing here. We're leveraging technology with the delivery of health care services to meet patients where they are. And that's really what gets me so excited about what we're doing.
- [03:55]
A
Lee, simply remarkable. You've built this great reputation for both mobile and virtual healthcare delivery as far ahead of the curve as anybody in the business. Talk a little bit about the acquisition of SteadyMD, the integration of SteadyMD and both the vision and why it makes so much sense as a way to enhance your ability to do what you're doing. Talk about that combination.
- [04:19]
B
That's a great question. So as you mentioned, we acquired SteadyMD, which is an all 50 state virtual care provider company, is about 10 years old. They do almost a million telehealth visits a year, a 2 million lab lab order, lab orders a year. So they're operating at great scale across all 50 states and they're going to be a very important component of what we're doing as we scale. What what Doco is doing, what I was just Describing and the key aspect of how we do what we do. I mentioned the technology but piece that's very important and we feel frankly is the, is the only way it can be done is the clinician that we're sending into the home tends to be an lpn, a licensed practical nurse, a mobile phlebotomist, a medical assistant, and that hands, eyes and ears in the home is being overseen synchronously and directed synchronously by an advanced practice provider virtually. That's the key, right? So the advanced practice provider, the md, the np, the pa, it's very expensive, very scarce resource in our healthcare ecosystem. We have to leverage them and utilize them to the maximum efficiency possible. And we can't have them going from home to home. And so what they do is they sit centrally and they oversee the app, the nurse practitioner, the pa, the MD oversees the visit virtually and they direct and they diagnose and they treatment plan and they synchronously oversee the hands, eyes and ears in the home, which tends to be for us an LPN or an MA or a mobile phlebotomist. And we've built a tech stack to enable that. And so steadymd is going to plug right into that and allow us to leverage their hundreds of advanced practice providers to scale our in home visits. And so we're very excited about that. In addition, it's important, I should say, they have a roster of phenomenal customers, name brands that your listeners know well, and they're going to continue to provide the high service, the high level of service and the quality to those existing customers as they always have. And we're going to help them scale and give them the resources they need to continue to do that and also help us scale the dot Go business.
- [06:39]
A
But your point is so well taken on sort of the scarcity of primary care physicians, even PAs and other advanced practitioners. And you're absolutely right, you say it as clearly as you could say it. We can't afford time wise, energy wise, burnout wise to have them working in the old Marcus Welby motto where they're running from home to home and I'm dating myself of course, but it just doesn't work. And so by centralizing them, just like the old dice in the old days used to centralize patients coming to the doctor. Now the concept is you can go to the patient, but the doctor could leverage his time in her time or his time in the advanced practitioner too, by being in one place and to work with the medical assistant, whoever is working and actually going to the home. Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating perspective. How do you see this combination changing how Daco and SETI MD work with hospitals and health systems and payers? What will this mean for that relationship as you become bigger and more integrated?
- [07:42]
B
Yeah, I think so. A big theme that I hear and we work with hundreds of hospitals, as I mentioned, through all the work I described, you know, we hear over and over again and frankly, I know we were all just at health recently and it's just very clear the industry has a problem with just so many point solutions and different pieces of software that help with different components of the hospital system or different, you know, member engagement on the, on the health insurance plan side. And I think hospital systems, insurance companies, providers, they're all clamoring for the same thing, which is really a platform that they can leverage to scale what they're doing or to do what they're doing better. And so to me, I think our approach is a winning approach where yes, we utilize technology, yes, we're building software, but we also provide the boots on the ground and the services that pair with it. And that's a big important component of what we do. Right. So we're not only going to give you the software you need to run your transfer center or medical transportation operation more efficiently, we're also going to run the trips for you and we're also going to provide the ambulances. Not only are we going to provide you with the software that pairs the right clinician with the right patient need, but we also have the clinicians to help you effectuate, you know, whatever program you're trying to implement at your hospital system. And I think that really what I hear, and I speak to a lot of hospital system CEOs, speak to a lot of leaders at health plans, they're all telling me the same thing. It's just a lot of people are clamoring to work with them and sell them their solutions, but they tend to be, you know, just one aspect of what they're trying to solve for. And a lot of times they don't even, they're, they're short on the staff or the bandwidth to implement some of this software. And so for us, our strategy has always been pair the software and the technology with the services and the clinicians. And so as I mentioned, Steady MD is already doing millions of patient engagements and they already have a world class platform that marries up the telehealth provider in real time to the right patient need across a wide range of name brand customers. And so I think bringing that to hospital systems is really what they're looking for. They don't want just technology, they want a way to implement the technology.
- [09:59]
A
At the same time, I think you've nailed a couple things. I mean, so much of what's out there is trying to match and bring technology and people. If you just bring technology or just bring a point solution, that then puts the problem with the health system. If you could bring solutions that are a little bit broader and both solving both the technology and people problem, you're really solving a big problem. I love that, I love that perspective. And certainly hospitals can't manage 2,000 point solutions. Just too hard to do that for a million different reasons. So I love the perspective. Where do you see sort of what's next for Dotcom, both in terms of innovation, technology in, in how patient care will be delivered over the next five to 10 years. What, what's next?
- [10:47]
B
Yeah, I mean, so for me it's not just for us. I think it needs to be for the entire industry. And I see this. I'm actually very optimistic and hopeful, you know, in healthcare, because I think healthcare has been actually there's a big appetite for healthcare to adopt technology. I mean, we see it all across the board. So I think the mindset is there in the industry. It's clear. And again, I come from a tech background, so I see it. I think we're going to enter into an era for health care of just always on, always available care. That's really going to be the expectation of patients, which is frankly the expectation of every industry at this point. Always on, always on demand, always available. And patients and consumers, frankly, are just going to expect that from their healthcare providers. And so for us, that's the platform we're building out. Okay. When we're not with you, we're monitoring your health so that if you have a precipitating condition, we can catch it early. So we're monitoring your health when we're not with you. If you want to access us, we can provide a virtual visit, telehealth visit. And yes, when we need to be with you, we can come to your home and provide a vaccination or collect labs. And again, always on, always available. And of course, if you do need to go to the hospital, which hospitals play an absolutely vital role in our healthcare ecosystem system, then we'll transport you to the hospital or transport you from the hospital to home and make sure that that transition of care is smooth. So I think we're moving to an always on, always available. You know, our chairman, Dr. Steve Klaskow. Always likes to talk about healthcare at any address, you know, so I think we're moving into an era of always on, always available healthcare at any address. And I think that, you know, we're building out a company that's going to be able to help bring that era and usher that era into fruition.
- [12:34]
A
I have to tell you, Lee, at a time when we talk so much about shortages and challenges and cracks in the healthcare system, this is probably the most inspiring concept in thought I've heard in a long time. This concept of always on, always available, that that's where we can actually get to, which is where we all want to be. It just is so uplifting and positive. I can't even tell you much. That message resonates and I hope that you're right and we can get there. And it's amazing the building blocks you've put in place to try and make that happen. It's really remarkable.
- [13:12]
B
I appreciate that, Scott. That means a lot coming from you.
- [13:16]
A
Lee, I can't tell you how thankful I am for you joining us today with doco. Your combination of steady MD and what you're trying to accomplish is so important to our healthcare ecosystem. I know it will go great. I hope it goes great. It is so needed. Thank you for taking the time with us today to visit with us on the Beckers healthcare podcast. Thank you very, very much.
- [13:38]
B
Thank.
- [13:41]
A
You.