Based on this article from US News, DocAsap wanted to remind patients to not to be afraid of the dentist.  Getting regular dental care can add up to 6.4 years on your life, giving you more time to enjoy retirement.

US News’ tips weren’t radical, but they were decent:

• Remember to be relaxed,
• Schedule appointments in the morning or Saturdays when the office is slow, and
• Tell the dentist your worries so they can be extra-sensitive!

We would add that going to DocAsap to see dentist backgrounds and photos, as well as booking a convenient morning or Saturday appointment can ease that visit anxiety!

We recently came across an interesting article that discusses the challenges of locating the right information to help select a primary care physician.  Some interesting points:

• Determine if your insurance is compatible with the doctor’s practice.
• What is the doctor’s hospital affiliation? Is the doctor affiliated with a reputable, nearby hospital?
• How convenient is the doctor’s office to your home?

In the coming weeks, DocAsap will be launching with primary care, allowing you to find this information, and more, with ease.

Tonight, Philly Startup Leaders (PSL) gave DocAsap the opportunity to be in the “Fishbowl”, in which local Philadelphia entrepreneurs shared cost-effective tactics for building buzz locally.  Not only did we get great advice on all aspects of our business, but we also got to evangelize our service to another group of potential users.  Thanks again PSL, and we look forward to debriefing members about our most valuable takeaways.          erf5pbjmkz

Given the troubling economic times we’re in, CBS3 recently posted this comprehensive list of free and low-cost healthcare resources in Philadelphia.  In addition to the Philadelphia Health Department Health Care Centers and other well-known resources, the list includes a large number of blood pressure, vision, depression and cancer screening facilities.  DocAsap hopes Philadelphia residents facing economic hardship take advantage of these free or low-cost medical services to stay health even though times are tough.

We are excited to announce that DocAsap has officially launched today, and that you can now use our service to find and book online dental appointments in Philadelphia!

On DocAsap, patients can instantly find and book available appointments 24 / 7 from local doctors and dentists who take their insurance, and can research providers based on their backgrounds.  Our rationale for starting in Philadelphia is not only because we commenced the venture while Wharton students, but also because Philadelphia, which has the second longest doctor appointment wait time of any U.S. city, could use a service that helps its residents get more timely care in a quick and convenient manner.

Right now, DocAsap only provides online appointment booking for Philadelphia dentists.  But in coming months, we will launch more specialties, add more content on our doctors and dentists, and roll out other features to improve the efficiency of finding and visiting a doctor.  In addition to providing us with any feedback, we would love for you to tell your friends in Philadelphia to book their next dentist appointment through DocAsap, join our Facebook group to get future updates, and spread the word to those you think might be interested in our service.

Anyways, thanks again for your help along the way, and we look forward to hearing from you.

The DocAsap Team

I recently met with directors of the Camden Coalition, which is seeking to radically change the way residents of Camden, New Jersey seek and receive care.  To provide context, Camden, New Jersey was America’s poorest city as of 2006 (pdf article) and one of its most violent.  Furthermore, over 50% of Camden residents visit the ER room in a year, which is over double the national average in the U.S.

This over-usage of ER rooms led a group of New Jersey physicians and public health officials to undertake the ambitious effort of tracking ER “super user” characteristics over time in order to make Camden residents healthier while lowering overall medical costs.  According to Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli of Cooper Health, who directs Cooper’s ER room and has been named one of ten Outstanding Young Americans and hosts a radio show, the ER over-usage results not only from many Camden residents lacking insurance, but also many insured residents lacking physician relationships.

In a program led by Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, the Camden Coalition is now hyper-targeting those ER super-users with an all-encompassing care management program by having physicians and public health workers promote preventative care and healthier lifestyles among these patients.  Furthermore, the Coalition has a broader goal to reach out to all Camden residents to increase access to preventative care through open access scheduling (see our previous post about open access scheduling).

A key lynchpin of their effort is effectively utilizing electronic medical record information, as a patient health record helps physicians better track and serve patients.  DocAsap also believes that online technology can help patients find appointments or interact with doctors remotely.  While internet usage in poorer areas typically trails that of wealthier communities, Camden’s young population, many of whom have cell phones and use the internet regularly, could benefit from having online tools such as DocAsap to more easily get doctor appointments.  DocAsap believes that providing intuitive doctor appointment search tools to all Americans that it can decrease over-usage of ER rooms, reduce overall healthcare cost, and create a healthier U.S. population.

An interesting NYT poll indicates that America’s growing frustration with the rising cost of care is driving them to support government-based solutions rather than those from private insurers.  Many prominent voices in healthcare seem to agree that the existing pay-per-procedure insurance model does not promote efficiency, providing proverbial wind to the Obama administration’s reformist sails until the Congressional Budget Office released costly estimates on the universal health plan.

HealthBeat argues that the government can provide universal access to care in way that does not jeopardize the country’s financial health or raise overall health care costs.  If the Obama administration can get doctors and insurance companies at the same table to emphasize efficiency-based rather than volume-based compensation, maybe the cost of care in the U.S. can decrease over time.  Still, major efficiencies will take time to materialize, necessitating tax increases to pay for the plan.

The NYT poll shows that Americans’ willingness to shoulder higher taxes is largely partisan, with Democrats supporting them and Republicans more mixed.  If tax increases are indeed necessary to bankroll universal health access in the short-term, we are likely in store for a long battle in Washington on this issue.  Stay tuned.

May’09 was a hectic month for DocAsap and for us. We graduated from Wharton and DocAsap product entered active beta testing. We grew our team, built new partnerships, formulated new processes, and are more and more close to our goal. Few more weeks and we would be live helping people get doctor appointments easily.

While we worked on finding ways to increase access to care, we found many amazing people who are successfully solving healthcare access problem.  One person clearly worth mentioning in Mr. Don Parker, CEO Atlanticare health services. Of many other things, Don is also a pioneer in creating urgent care model in the southern New Jersey area. The AtlantiCare Urgent Care Centers, located in Egg Harbor Township, Marmora, Little Egg Harbor and Hammonton, offer fast, quality care for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries that occur after hours and on weekends and holidays. When doctors are not available as is many times the case, people can go to these urgent care centers and get needed care. Kudos to Mr. Parker. He has guided us in many ways over the last few months and we hope to get more insights on increasing healthcare access from him in the coming future.

From a student initiated venture idea to making it to the finals of the Wharton Business Plan competition, DocAsap has been an amazing experience for us. As we learned more about the problems and the possible solutions for easing access to care DocAsap became more than a business for us, it became a mission.

With cancellation rates of over 50% in some practices there is a lot of hidden capacity in the system that neither you nor I get access to. In this age of free information flow, we continue waiting for weeks to get our kids seen by a pediatrician or ending up in emergency rooms to wait for hrs before getting needed care.

DocAsap hopefully would solve these problems.

Showing real time inventory of appointments online would help cater the demand and fill up those otherwise wasted slots. Doctors who are still building their practices would have the legitimate way of communicating that they are available, have great credentials and are just few miles away. Getting care would be easier. Who knows we may even drive significant reduction in costs in the whole system and help more people get access to care. All this seem like a dream today, but sure we have a vision to drive that change.

Congrats again to all the Wharton BPC finalists.

DocAsap’s primary goal is to help patients get appointments as quickly as possible.  Given delays after scheduled doctor appointment times average 20 minutes, and that Americans in total spend 847 million hours per year waiting in doctor office lobbies for care, DocAsap has some tips to help you get out of the waiting room ASAP:

• Schedule your appointments first thing in the morning or immediately after lunch since the doctor won’t have a backlog.  Also, schedule appointments midweek to avoid typical Monday and Friday rushes. (via eHow)
• Visit open-access urgent care centers for non-emergency same day care, as this BusinessWeek article states that they are more likely to provide care without a wait.
• Encourage your doctor or dentist to message you if they are experiencing long delays, either via email or text message, so you can show up later.

Since office waits will never completely disappear, DocAsap obviously recommends bringing good reading material, or homework if you’re a student like us, to fill your time.  We’re eager to hear more time-saving advice, so please share your own tips below.