Mobile health takes a sharp turn

Mobile healthcare is clearly trending as providers offer medical services to patients in home and non-traditional settings, which is proving to be a good growth prescription for some providers.

Last-mile mobile healthcare service provider DocGo, for example, reported a strong first quarter of 2022, as executives talked about dropping heavy COVID-19 testing and related services to enter in a post-pandemic phase focused on new partnerships and service expansion.

“During the first quarter, we began transitioning some COVID-related services into longer-term, non-COVID-related work with new and existing clients,” DocGo CEO Stan Vashovsky said during a briefing. a conference call with analysts Tuesday, May 10, adding that DocGo had obtained licenses and assets to offer medical transportation services in Maryland and Delaware.

Additionally, the New York-based company said its clinicians interacted with 1.1 million patients in the first quarter, an 80% increase from the same period in 2021.

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Vashovsky said the DocGo model differentiates itself from other mobile health care providers by its use of “highly trained and licensed practical nurses and paramedics who work under medical license in our network of medical offices across the United States.” United”.

This model allows clinicians to offer “a much wider range of services at a lower cost to the entire healthcare system” than “expensive nurses, physician assistants and physicians”.

On the innovation front, Vashovsky said the direct-to-consumer DocGo On Demand is seen as a winner, “offer as medical copays and franchises continue to increase. We see an opportunity to provide alternatives to cost-effective treatment directly to patients and employees seeking medical treatment for non-emergency conditions,” he said.

This pilot project is in its “early stages” and will be used to expand DocGo On Demand to new markets.

See also: Mobile health service provider DocGo to start trading on Nasdaq

DocGo’s medical transportation business, which Vashovsky described as an “Uber-like, pre-scheduled, on-demand ambulance patient transfer solution between clinical facilities,” is undergoing a shift in use as hospitals and systems health benefits from its pricing options.

Noting that the company leases vehicles through GE Capital on a five-year term with no down payment, Vashovsky said, “Our customers are increasingly moving to a lesser hour model where we provide vehicles, equipment and staff for a daily fee, far from the traditional fee-for-service model. Not only does this provide our clients with dedicated resources, but it creates recurring predictable revenue and strong gross margin performance for our business.

DocGo plans to have an all-electric medical transport fleet by 2032.

After COVID

Chief Financial Officer Andre Oberholzer noted that mHealth revenue, including COVID testing, represents 76% of first-quarter 2022 revenue of $117.9 million, with medical transportation providing the balance. As COVID testing declines, DocGo is expanding other models.

For those looking for revenue clues on the end of the pandemic, Oberholzer responded to an analyst saying, “For COVID testing, we estimated Q2 should be around $20 million, then guidance that we gave said as of July 1 that we assume COVID testing will cost $0.

Vashovsky added that “many of our contracts are actually for the same municipalities or the same customers that we have done COVID testing for. So as COVID testing ends, we have new programs that are with the same customers starting.

Elsewhere in post-pandemic planning, in January DocGo signed a multi-year contract with Aetna on home health care services for commercial and Medicare Advantage members in New York and New Jersey. Vashovsky said, “This gives us the opportunity to provide a range of home health care services to 2.5 million lives, including episodic and emergency care.”

Additionally, the company expanded its agreement with Carnival Corporation, adding 15 more ships, while expanding its business in the small but growing UK.

DocGo is also launching a new direct-to-consumer offering in 2023. Vashovsky said “we’re very optimistic about our direct-to-consumer offering, alongside our business-to-business offering.”

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