This app is aiming to upend the health care system
As the country argues over the best way to provide health care to the American people, a new start-up is trying to reinvent the housecall.
Heal is an app that brings a doctor's services to your home. The app all started when an internist was waiting for hours in the emergency room with her child. She was determined to make it better.
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When you open the app, you push a button to display different services, like a doctor, a medical assistant, an X-ray, an EKG, or other medical services. A doctor or technician will come to your house within two hours. Each visit costs $159, but about 20 insurances, including Medicare and Medicare Advantage, reportedly cover the services.
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Major investors like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and musician Lionel Richie are buying into Heal.
Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel said he sees some positives in Heal.
"I like that idea, especially if a patient has the flu ... somebody with the flu, I don't want in my office because they're going to be spreading it," Dr. Siegel said.
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He said being able to see someone in their home environment is beneficial because the medical professional can see how they're living and if something environmental is contributing to their condition.
Another positive, Dr. Siegel said, is the guarantee to get test results, and he is impressed that it's an app, making it more convenient for many people.
"This is the future," Dr. Siegel said. "It's the future and the past coming together, actually."
Dr. Siegel said one downside to making housecalls through this app is it's not connected to the same system a doctor at a hospital would be connected to, which could make referrals more difficult.
"You're kind of isolated with a concierge doctor."
Even though the app only works in California, New York, Washington, D.C., and Georgia at this point, Dr. Siegel believes it's going to become more nationwide soon.
"It's going to fill the gaps of people who say 'I feel sick, but I can't make it out the door to my doctor,' " Dr. Siegel said.
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He admitted it won't take the place of a hospital network, but the benefits are there.