
Circle Medical (YC S15) Brings a Full Service Medical Practice to You - dh
http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/17/circle-medical-brings-a-full-service-medical-practice-to-you/
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mattzito
Interesting concept, but I'm skeptical that the economics work out. It's true
you save on office space, but you lose on volume of clients (patients) you can
see at any given time.

On top of that, in a practice, doctors are able to "outsource" a lot of the
low-skill labor to either office managers or nurses - the receptionist takes
your paperwork and handles the cancellations, the nurse draws blood and takes
your vitals, the doctor just rolls in for 15 minutes and listens to your
complaint and read the results.

There are already doctor practices that are doing this, but they're going the
opposite direction and charging much more or annual fees, for the convenience
factor of having the doctor come to you.

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x0x0
For those of you in sfbay, one medical (
[https://onemedical.com](https://onemedical.com) ) is awesome. For $150/year,
you get doctors that read and answer email; the ability to get same day
appointments, though not necessarily with your pcp, but with a doctor; online
appointment scheduling; and a phlebotomist in the office (at least where I
go). It's a huge time savings.

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rajacombinator
They've also done a good job at solving one of the plagues of the medical
industry - hiring competent and friendly admin staff.

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brentlarue
Circle Medical founder here. We like One Medical. They have really moved the
ball forward in terms of patient experience. But why stop there?

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Mz
FWIW, I haven't seen a doctor in years and I like the concept. I have a
compromised immune system. I stopped going to see doctors in part because
sitting in the waiting room with other patients tended to leave me horribly
ill. Using a public bathroom used by other patients was also a serious
problem. Etc. I have long lamented that doctors going to see patients was
something we no longer did.

I hope you are very successful.

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brentlarue
Thanks for the love!

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falsestprophet
"…the service specializes in things like annual checkups, flu shots, and blood
tests… not just time-sensitive urgent care issues."

These tasks are generally left to physician assistants and nurse practitioners
who are paid on average about half as much as primary care physicians (about
100k vs 200k).

In many states, they can be found practicing in pharmacies and supermarkets
and seem to see around a half dozen patients per hour.

I think it will be tough for mobile medical practitioners to beat
price/convenience levels of retail nurse practitioners and physician
assistants.

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titanhealth
This idea has been around for a while and is really better solved by the
concept of community paramedicine [1], which several areas in the US are
currently piloting. Like other commenters have mentioned, the economics of
having a physician perform these basic tasks severely limits the
profitability.

1\.
[http://www.naemt.org/Files/MobileIntegratedHC/UC%20Davis%20C...](http://www.naemt.org/Files/MobileIntegratedHC/UC%20Davis%20Community%20Paramedicine%20Report.pdf)

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qhoc
When do you expand to Seattle area? I hate to wait for 2 weeks for visit and
then it rains...

