Personalized health network HealthTap buys Avvo Health

Faith Merino · November 29, 2012 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/2c0d

The acquisition expands HealthTap's network of health professionals to more than 30K

Looks like HealthTap is seeing some strong growth.  The personalized health platform announced Thursday that it has acquired Avvo Health, the health division of expert-only Q&A site Avvo.  The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the company says that it was an all-cash deal.

The acquisition expands HealthTap’s network to over 30,000 doctors and dentists across 128 specialties in all 50 states.

As Avvo’s primary business has been as a Q&A network of legal experts, it will continue to operate on its own as a resource for people looking for lawyers, attorney ratings, and free legal advice.  As HealthTap is taking over its medical division, Avvo will now focus exclusively on its legal business.

The deal also adds group practices and hospitals to HealthTap’s network.  This is HealthTap’s first acquisition, and while the company isn’t releasing the number of patient users in its network, CEO Ron Gutman tells me that the acquisition has added many more users.

“Pregnant women and moms (Pediatrics and OBGyn) are still two large and highly active groups of HealthTap, but we also have large groups in Diabetes, Heart Health, Cancer, Flu, Stroke, Cholesterol, Headache, Arthritis, ADHD, Asthma, Allergies, Healthy Living and more,” said Gutman.

To recap, HealthTap is designed to displace Dr. Google by letting users create their own patient profiles and get their questions answered by real doctors in the HealthTap network.  Over 80% of Web users admit to having looked for health information online. 

Over the summer, HealthTap unveiled some new features, including doctor ratings—called the “DocScore”—which acts as something of a FICO score based on public data and doctor-to-doctor peer review.  Doctors can even rank one another on their expertise levels.

You can also now check out a directory of some 1.2 million doctors and schedule in-person appointments using appointment requests, direct messaging, and phone calls.

“I was surprised to discover that it takes more than 20 days on average in this country to schedule an appointment with a doctor!” said Gutman.  “I was also surprised that until today there hasn't been one good/deep/trustworthy directory of doctors available for users on mobile devices.”

To date, there have been 30 million network and referral connections on the HealthTap platform, which also includes some three million organizational affiliations and patients with over 450 different insurance companies.

HealthTap also now offers premium services that users can purchase with a new micropayment system.  Premium services include private health conversations—so you can pose a question to a specific doctor with the peace of mind of knowing it’s secure.  You can also connect with a doctor of your choice for immediate answers to your health questions via a list of who’s “online now.”  You can also share health records, photos, and documents securely with specific doctors in the HealthTap network. 

 

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HealthTap+ has reinvented the way people all over the world manage their health and well-being. Our free web and mobile apps enable 24/7 access to personalized, relevant, and trusted health information in the form of answers, tips, checklists, and news from over 67,000 U.S. doctors.

Members can get expert answers to their personal health questions, read personalized news and tips, and access expert reviews of health apps from HealthTap’s Medical Expert Network of more than 67,000 doctors for free.

In July 2014, HealthTap launched its premium HealthTap Prime subscription service. Prime members pay a monthly subscription fee for unlimited live consults with physicians via HD video, voice, and text chat. The service is available via any mobile device or personal computer.

HealthTap then launched HealthTap Concierge in October 2014, which connects members with their own doctors, via HD video, voice, and text chat for a low, per-consult fee. No monthly subscription is required to use HealthTap Concierge.

HealthTap released its first annual AppRx Report in January 2015. Thousands of doctors on HealthTap independently reviewed tens of thousands of health and wellness apps available in the iOS and Android app stores and provided recommendations for those they deemed the best.

In March 2015, HealthTap launched RateRx, the first free, large-scale resource of doctor ratings and reviews for over 4,000 drugs and medications. It was created by doctors to help consumers understand the effectiveness of drugs and treatments based on doctors' real-world experience.

 

The company is backed by leading investors such as Khosla Ventures, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Mayfield Fund, and Mohr Davidow Ventures.