We spoke with Stephanie Eltz from Doctify a UK health platform which provides a solution for patients who want to search, compare and book doctors and other healthcare professionals online. Need an acupuncturist, GP, dermatologist, dentist or cardiologist? Doctify allows you to book an appointment at a time that suits you and it takes you less then 60 seconds.
The platform also provides healthcare specialists with software to help them manage their patient bookings, reduce no shows and collect reviews through an automated review system. The innovative company was founded by Suman (also a surgeon), Daniel (ex-finance consultant) and Stephanie and the website launched in July 2015.
Stephanie said:
“The company seeks to champion, support and advance doctor-patient relationships by providing greater transparency and access to healthcare through innovation. The company is changing healthcare for the better and is bringing simplicity to the industry in ways that have never previously been made possible.
Doctify has grown from an idea to a revenue-generating business in less than a year and having already closed three rounds of financing, we are focusing on further enhancing patient experiences on our platform. Almost 1,000 doctors and healthcare professionals have already signed up to the service and traffic and appointments are growing rapidly. In October 2016, Doctify announced that it had closed a Series A round led by a top UK Venture Capital Group, Amadeus Capital. Over the next 12 months, Doctify plans to expand nationally and internationally.
How many users do you have? And how many specialists?
We have almost 50,000 monthly unique visitors. We target patients who are looking for appointments and are not simply trying to chase high traffic numbers. Bookings through the site have been growing double digits monthly since we launched. We have almost 1,000 specialists on the platform and more and more doctors and healthcare specialists are approaching us looking to become members of our growing community.
What systems does Doctify integrate with?
More and more specialists are using our calendar to manage all of their patients. Some doctors use our calendar alongside their existing practice management software. We are in the process of establishing integration with one of the largest PMS providers in the UK.
With Interoperability being a key focus for the NHS, how does Doctify support this?
At Doctify we have an in-house tech team with extremely focused and ambitious developers. We are not only keen and open to establish interoperability with other operating systems but we are also lucky to have the resources that we can allocate for this task. However, in order to achieve integration with another company, you need development and buy-in from both sides and it often comes down to whether there is a business case for each of the businesses. For us, interoperability is key and a question of time.
How and when did you come up with the idea?
I had an urgent medical problem and was looking for a specialist who could treat my condition. Despite being a doctor myself, I found it very difficult to find the right doctor at a time that suited me. I asked colleagues, my GP and friends but was left having to Google and then call various clinics. I had no way of conducting any quality assurance and it took a long time to find a doctor who was available. This obvious lack of transparency and the difficulty I faced in finding availability drove me to think about creating a solution. We have amazing doctors in the UK who are more then happy to see patients and I wanted to bring the two parties closer together.
How does a clinician find out about the care received?
We believe that patient reviews are a valuable way of measuring quality. Patients and GPs can check reviews on each of our doctors. Those reviews can only be written by patients who have actually seen the specialist in questions. We are also proud of another feature of our platform that allows healthcare professionals to recommend their peers. So, for example, a physiotherapist can recommend an Orthopaedic Surgeon for a particular procedure (e.g., ACL repair). That physiotherapist will see many patients from various surgeons and his or her recommendations are very valuable.
What’s next for Doctify?
We are working on enhancing the patient experience by improving our product. We are also in the process of expanding nationally and looking at international expansion sometime next year.”
– Thank you to Stephanie Eltz for taking the time to talk to us.
