Bringing the Housecall into the Twenty-First Century

I keep track of competitors, so I saw Medicast’s web site when it came to life.

During an interview with two energetic founders, I learned that Medicast planned to bring the housecall into the 21st century, slashing the cost with volume, marketing, and digital technology. Doctors were rushing to sign up, they added.

I agreed to join them but declined the canvas carry-all they were offering, preferring to keep my traditional doctor’s bag. A handout listed required drugs and supplies which Medicast would sell to its physicians, but they agreed that I could use my current selection.

They gave me an Ipad Mini. All their doctors received one. Potential customers downloaded the Medicast app which gave them the choice of signing up for a paying program that provided free housecalls or paying nothing and summoning a doctor when they needed one. Clicking the app connected them to a dispatcher who recorded their credit card information and sent a text message to a doctor on-call. The program then automatically dialed the client from the doctor’s phone.

“Hotel guests phone me directly,” I said. “Wouldn’t that be quicker?”

“Doctors hate giving out their private numbers,” they explained. “This way you don’t appear on caller-ID, so patients can never bother you.”

A Los Angeles housecall cost $249 during business hours, $349 during nights and weekends. While this was in the ballpark of my fee, Medicast kept about one third. Medicines, supplies, and injections cost the patient extra, so a Medicast doctor had the opportunity to earn more – a lot more if he was creative. My hotel doctor competitors show positive genius in this area.

Carrying the Ipad everywhere was a minor annoyance, and software bugs made an appearance. If another doctor answered, the app didn't notice, so I phoned patients who had already set up a housecall.

Business was brisk. My Ipad chirped nine times during the first month to announce a call although some may have been software glitches. All were from local residents, so they didn’t overlap with my clients, but employees at two hotels reported visits from a Medicast representative, extolling their service.

I posted the above five years ago on this blog. Calls faded out over the next several months. Someone came by to collect my Ipad. Sometime in 2016 or 2017 Medicast went out of business.