The Rise of On-Demand Healthcare

On-demand services are the current order of the technology-driven world, and its welcome by the masses has changed the way businesses all across the globe are functioning. Healthcare is an important segment, where immediate fulfilment of requests means immediate treatment of certain injuries and illnesses, which definitely works wonders for a society where health is considered as the biggest wealth. Imagine someone suffering from soaring high fever or severe headache, who is able to schedule an instant appointment with a doctor or even arrange a doctor’s visit at his/her place by merely spending a few minutes on the mobile phone. Well, it certainly sounds like a blessing in a doomed scenario like this, isn’t it?

The global healthcare industry is undergoing rapid transformation, where healthcare organizations are inherently striving to improve the delivery of their services and are increasingly offering instant access to specialized expertise for cure of certain illnesses, which are non-life threatening in nature. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, more than 60 per cent of Americans are open to virtual healthcare, as evidenced by approximately 1.2 million American patients who were projected to have received some form of care via virtual doctor’s visits in 2016. Thanks to the introduction of IoT in the healthcare industry, we are on the path of rapid advancement, as we adopt a newer outlook towards the delivery of such services.

The United States has clearly been a more mature market for on-demand healthcare services, where we already see a plethora of valuable platforms having made a mark, as they successfully connect patients with the available doctors through mobile sites or apps to render consultation, fix appointments or even respond to requests of home visits by doctors. Heal, a California-based start-up, has got sound affiliations with various reputed hospitals and allows one to summon a doctor home almost instantly, without having to wait for too long. Another leading service, Doctor on Demand, facilitates virtual consultation for patients in the form of video chats, etc, also allowing online prescriptions to be shared easily. A similar service called American Well has over 250 healthcare partners across the country and connects patients with doctors almost instantly over a video, also offering online doctor visits.

Well, there are others too, and the list gets a little too long. Teladoc, a telehealth company using telephone and video conferencing technology to offer on-demand remote medical care, grants you 24/7 access to doctors, assuring constant care round the clock! HealthTap, with a network of over 107,000 US doctors, promises to resolve all your medical queries and offer instant help at any given time. Another key online service, Solv Health, lets users search for a nearby urgent care facility, and book same day appointments with ease. Ambee, an India-based online network of high-quality hospital and private ambulances, offers on-demand ambulance services, which is probably the need of the hour, keeping in mind the various emergencies which might arise at any time.

What is noteworthy here is the extremely high utility of these on-demand healthcare players and their gigantic success over the years, which has been attracting a great deal of investor attention lately. Quite certainly, the investments are going to surge with time, as we see a bright and promising future of such services.

Think about the hassle of locating a nearby hospital or finding a doctor in the vicinity in case of an immediate requirement… you don’t have to do that anymore! A mobile phone is all you need to get the necessary care on-demand. Surely, it seems like one could conquer the entire world with these tiny little gadgets!