You wake up with a killer sore throat and suspect that it's strep. Instead of sweet-talking your way into a same-day appointment with your doctor or taking a chance on a short wait at Urgent Care (good luck on that), you just swab your own throat, use a simple device, and get the answer.
If you're right, you go through a quick online clinic visit and get a prescription sent to your local pharmacy. Fifteen minutes after waking up, you're on your way to pick up the antibiotics.
This scenario may seem futuristic, but it's closer than ever, thanks to
QuickCheck Health, an Excelsior-based startup that aims to revolutionize home health care.
According to a recent
Rand Corporation study, about 90 percent of visits to retail clinics were for ten acute conditions, including upper respiratory infections, sore throats, and urinary tract infections as well as blood tests for issues like STDs.
QuickCheck aims to handle the testing for these conditions with devices that provide rapid diagnostic results for minimal cost. The company is developing devices that can detect the presence of Lyme disease, mono, pregnancy, pinkeye, yeast infections, strep throat, the flu, and urinary tract infections. They're also developing tools that can track cholesterol and glucose levels.
With the ability to provide accurate test results at home, people can utilize online health care services more effectively, says QuickCheck president and CEO Tom Henke.
Launched in February 2010, the company sprang from Henke's 25 years in the health insurance industry. He says, "During that time, I saw that the industry was going down a path that wasn't leading to lower costs or customer satisfaction. In fact, it was quite the opposite."
When he left the industry, he had several business concepts and an entrepreneurial drive, and settled on QuickCheck after watching his four children struggle through multiple bouts of strep throat.
"I thought, why am I bringing them to the doctor every time?" he says. "I wondered why people couldn't just do this at home. So I began reverse-engineering the process."
QuickCheck's devices will be submitted to the FDA soon, and are getting ready for consumer use studies. After that, you can expect to see the devices on store shelves by early next year, and look for QuickCheck to grow rapidly from that point on.
"We love the idea of people taking more charge of their health, and this will help them do just that," says Henke.
Source: Tom Henke, QuickCheck Health
Writer: Elizabeth Millard