Taking expectations of on-demand and quick services to healthcare
Key facts
- Pager¹ is an app and web-based service that connects users in New York to doctors on-demand for minor treatments within the home, office or hotel.
- Patients can access medical help with the press of a button for illness, injury, physicals, skin check-ups, general health check-ups, paediatrics and prescription delivery.
- Pager showcases the concept of “liquid” customer expectations of on-demand service crossing industries.
Uniqueness
- Pager uses a location-based service to identify doctors in nearby areas and guarantees a house call within two hours, including during night times and on weekends.
- The app allows the user the control to pick the doctor he or she wants based on their profile, specialties, credentials and fees.
- The doctor can call in a prescription and send a form that can be submitted to insurance providers for reimbursement.
Value
- Received total funding of $24.4 million to date from investors, including Goodwater Capital, Montage Ventures and Sound Ventures.
- Provides value to users by offering convenience, control and speed.
- Prevents potentially expensive visits to the hospital.
- Allows doctors to use time and resources more effectively.
Approach
- The company was founded by an early Uber engineer, Oscar Salazar, who implemented a similar (if not same) model at Pager, but with one important difference – Pager also gives users a say in which doctor they want to select, providing them control that they probably would not have in an emergency room visit.
- Pager charges anywhere between $50-200 for services such as first-time urgent care visits, physicals and regular urgent care.
Pager is one of more than 100 case studies identified as part of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Transformation of Industries initiative. An overview of the DTI program can be found here.
1. Sources: www.pager.com; WEF/Accenture Analysis