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Stories
Democratizing Medicine
Inspired by a family member’s experience with a lack of timely access to health care, Carlos Reines (MBA 2014) built RubiconMD make sure others get the medical expertise they need, when they need it. In this interview, he talks about how his company helps increase and improve the reach of medical professionals.
“We launched RubiconMD in 2013 with the mission to democratize medical expertise so that all patient populations receive the care they need. Gil Addo and myself both were inspired by family experiences, where a relative, they didn't get to access to the right care at the right time and suffered the consequences of that lack of access.
“And in particular, we looked at the health care space in the US and realized that 40% of the referrals to specialists were unnecessary. And at the same time, half of the country doesn't get access to a specialist. The use case is fairly simple, right? A primary care clinician, if they see a patient, they have a question, they are trying to figure out what the right diagnosis or care plan is for their patients, they can access our platform.
“They provide a brief description. They ask a question. That is sent to a top specialist. We'll review, and get back to them with relevant insights about their specialty. And that helps primary care clinicians make a much more informed decision in primary care, therefore improving the patient care plan and avoiding unnecessary cost.
“So imagine you visited your primary care clinician, and you had a skin rash. Instead of you having to go see a specialist, they could take a photo, ask for an opinion, hear back in a few hours. And based on that input, the primary care clinician can make a much more informed [decision] about your skin rash in primary care.
“And that typically results into better care and many times avoids unnecessary steps that are costly and difficult for the patients. We've collected great feedback from primary care clinicians. When they use eConsults, 80% of the time, they're able to improve the patient care plan.
"On top of that they say that about 70% of the eConsults provide educational value. So not only they're helping their patients, they're also learning and building capacity for future patient care. And about half of them help avoid unnecessary referrals or duplicate tests that would have been very costly for the system.
"It's our goal to get to a point where there is no primary care clinician in the country that practices without eConsults because they benefit so much in helping them achieve better care for their patients."
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