RetraceHealth, a startup that melds an on-demand service for primary-care physician house calls and a telemedicine service, has raised an undisclosed amount of fresh capital from a from a group of investors that includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, HealthEast Care System, in Minnesota, and McKesson Ventures.
MedCity News reports that “the company charges $60 a pop for video visits, $150 for home visits and $190 for a home visit with a lab service to assess things such as cholesterol levels, diabetes and high blood pressure. It also claims to provide an X-ray service. It claims to be able to provide a doctor within half an hour of a request.”
The news service says the “startup has found a way to overcome one of the biggest challenges with these concierge care services: reimbursement. Through a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, RetraceHealth will offer its services to BCBS’s members throughout Minnesota.”
“There are many companies crowding into the telemedicine market and others providing doctor house calls on demand. Among the challenges they face in growing their business is getting enough certified physicians in each state, the logistical challenge of getting doctors to the right address and the diverse state regulations for how telemedicine is practiced,” MedCity noted.
Such telemedicine and house-call enterprises may succeed in cutting traffic at hospital emergency rooms and, for that matter, in cutting hospital inpatient populations.
