This afternoon DispatchHealth, maker of a platform that allows clinicians to make house calls, closed a $33 million growth capital financing. Echo Health Ventures led the round with participation from Alta Partners, Questa Capital and others. 

WHAT THEY DO

Currently available in select parts of eight different states, DispatchHealth’s platform allows patients to request on-demand care to their home. Clinicians will arrive to the patient’s home within two hours of the request and can treat flu, UTI, stomach virus, respiratory conditions and other common health concerns. 

Patients can also get multiple tests done in their home including blood, strep and urinary tests. Clinicians can provide the patient with medications and certain procedures, such as IV fluids. 

Currently the platform works with both large health systems and insurers to integrate the patient's care. 

WHAT IT’S FOR

The Denver, Colorado-based startup plans to put these new funds towards opening up new locations across the US. Some of the money will also be put towards further development of the mobile app and logistics platform. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT

While the idea of a house-call might conjure the image of a horse and buggy rather than a smartphone app, technology has become a new avenue for coordinating clinical visits.

Heal, a company that allows patients to book physician house calls through an app-driven digital scheduling and processing platform, landed $20 million in 2018. At the time the company said it was also looking to expand to more states. 

Currently the only state that Heal and DispatchHealth overlap in is Virginia (though they each cover different regions in the state); however, both are newly flush with cash and looking to expand, so that could be changing. 

ON THE RECORD 

“All Americans deserve access to lower cost health care. Our growing senior population is a group that often faces mobility limitations and can benefit from the safe, effective and convenient care that in-home treatment provides,” Dr. Mark Prather, CEO and cofounder of DispatchHealth, said in a statement. “We're committed to helping all individuals receive the right care, at the right time, in the comfort of their own home or place of need. The financial support and strategic expertise of Echo Health Ventures will allow us to extend our current care model into longer-term, episodic interventions for individuals requiring more advanced treatment.”