An Atlanta-based telehealth company has introduced a new type of currency to its transactions, with the goal of giving both patients and providers more insight into how much they spend and charge for healthcare.
The ExamMed platform, currently being used by roughly 250 healthcare providers, uses MedCoins for payment, with each coin worth $5. Co-founders Faraz Zubairi and Jeremy Trabucco say the currency gives providers more insight into what they charge for online and after-hours service – also known as concierge care – while enabling consumers to more easily separate and classify their healthcare costs.
"It's a very simple platform," Trabucco told mHealth News, adding that the currency functions much like a health savings account. "It has a value (that differs from cash or credit cards) that is specific."
Trabucco and Zubairi say the MedCoins offer more transparency to the telehealth process at a time when consumers are taking more control over their healthcare expenditures and want to know exactly how and where their money is being used. It also separates ExamMed from the rapidly growing field of telehealth companies.
Through ExamMed, which launched last year, physicians can set up an online care platform and set their own prices for services, whether they're delivered by e-mail, phone or video. With MedCoins, they can also establish reward or incentive programs for their patients, enabling them to earn MedCoins for healthy behaviors.
Zubairi says physicians can use MedCoins to prioritize their services and capture lost revenue, particularly telehealth services that aren't currently reimbursed. It enables them to bundle services together, such as with family packages, and chart what part of their daily routine (including expenses and profits) is directly tied to telehealth.
Patients, on the other hand, can use MedCoins to chart their healthcare expenses, or even as charitable donations, with the added knowledge that those donations would be used specifically for healthcare. Zabairi calls the currency "not just an expenditure but an investment."
"It's more meaningful, more engaging," Trabucco said.
