When it comes to medical diagnosis and treatment, one generally doesn't want the doctor to "phone it in."
That is changing with the advent of companies like
Zipnosis.
The St. Paul-based firm facilitates online diagnosis and treatment of
common health needs like colds, flu, allergies, common infections,
tobacco cessation, and more.
For a $25 fee, registered patients can complete an "adaptive online
interview" about their ailment. The information is sent digitally to a
local, board-certified and licensed clinician, from whom the patient
receives a diagnosis, treatment plan, and prescription if necessary,
within an hour, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Zipnosis was co-founded in late 2008 by CEO Jon Pearce, then
an MBA student at the University of Minnesota.
The company now has six
employees, including
corporate officers with experience at notable local health care and IT organizations.
Zipnosis completed a year-long, local pilot in early May, partnering with
Park Nicollet to provide diagnosis and treatment to approximately 3,500 patients--about 30 percent of them in rural Minnesota.
Pearce says the pilot answered the questions: "'Can we deliver the care
effectively? Can we deliver it safely? What sort of marketing responses
work?' You get a really good idea for how the business works," he says.
Both clinical quality and patient satisfaction were high, says
Pearce--in the mid-to-upper nineties (in terms of percentage) for safe
and
effective treatment and in terms of positive patient responses to a
survey. More than 30 percent of patients served have used Zipnosis more
than once, Pearce notes.
With the success of, and lessons learned from, the pilot, "We said, 'OK,
we think it's ready to move into multiple states at this point,'" says
Pearce. They wasted no time; Zipnosis expanded its services to two other
states, Colorado and Washington, on May 15. Pearce expects to add
others by the end of the year. Zipnosis has even drawn international
interest, which they have had to turn down in this early stage. "We're
not quite there," says Pearce. "[With] six people [it's] a little hard to tackle
some of the other countries."
Here at home, Pearce anticipates Park Nicollet will remain a long-term
partner in Minnesota. The company will similarly partner with local
clinics and practitioners in other states, he says.
Pearce said he expects Zipnosis to add employees as the company grows and expands its reach.
Zipnosis can offer two types of service in partnering with providers,
according to Pearce: practitioners can use the company's online "turnkey
solution, right out of the box," he says, or it can "help them
create an identity for their system" using the platform and technology.
"So far most people � have used the off-the-shelf product, because it seems to work fairly well," says Pearce.
Source: Jon Pearce, CEO, Zipnosis
Writer: Jeremy Stratton