Credit Suisse https://www.credit-suisse.com as part of their “Healthcare Disruptive Technologies & Innovations” series, recently held a small group investor dinner in New York City with Patrick Spain, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of First Stop Health (FSH) https://www.fshealth.com, a telehealth company privately held and headquartered in Chicago.
FSH was founded in 2011 and provides telemedicine services through employers to their employees. In 2015, the company completed building their own physician network which had previously been rented from Teladoc. The company has a Net Promoter Score (NPS) score of 88 with clients and 77 with patients.
Highlighting the need for and the role of virtual care in the U.S, Patrick Spain noted that there are 1.2 billion physician visits per year and 200 million visits to the ER in the U.S annually. However, of the 200 million ER visits, 100 million visits don’t need to be in the ER. Of the 1.2 billion physician visits, an estimated 250-400 million visits don’t require a physical exam to be diagnosed and/or treated.
FSH delivers non-emergent primary care telemedicine services which has generated a high utilization rate of 34 percent. The company relies on a business model that delivers services, usually at no cost to members by guaranteeing employers a positive ROI measured on the avoidance of more costly care. According to Patrick Spain, “The number of doctors that want to do telemedicine is overwhelming and that many physicians are doing telemedicine full time.”
FSH sells exclusively through broker channels and is willing to take clients with as few as 200 employees, however, the company has many clients with 500-1,000 employees. Clients with less than 1,000 employees typically pay more per member.
Patrick Spain claims that physicians find the FSH platform very easy to use. For patients, FSH is staffed 24/7 not just at the call center but also helps with more complex issues such as correcting prescriptions at midnight and whether certain drugs are in-policy.
The company added care navigation last year and added a behavioral health offering this year. Regardless of size, the company offers behavioral services for roughly $2.50 per employee per month and care navigation for $5 per employee per month.
Email Jailendra Singh jailendra.singh@credit-suisse.com or call 212-325-8121 for more information or to provide feedback.