Interview with Leo Popov, founder at TrueCare24

A look at how companies are handling Covid-19 and what responsibility they have towards employees

Image: Unsplash

When Covid-19 first started spreading across the globe a year ago, many businesses and schools came to a screeching halt. It didn't take long for businesses to adapt, however, adopting work-from-home structures and staggering who came into the office and when.

Now, with a vaccine starting to roll out in the US and across the world, employers are starting to get people back in the offices, but there is still a lot to be desired - mainly, making sure everyone is safe and that people are protected.

Backed by 500 Startups, TrueCare24 is one company helping tackle the issue of workplace COVID-19 testing and vaccination.

I had the chance to interview Leo Popov about TrueCare24 and learn more about the company, how its platform works, and what role employers play in testing and vaccinations. You can read the full interview below.

Image: Canva

Please introduce yourself and your role with TrueCare24?

My name is Leo (short for Leonid). I was born in Russia, where I graduated and got my first work experience. Since that time, I have mastered my professional skills working for major FMCG companies. My next professional step coincided with my move to San Francisco, where I got a great opportunity to collaborate and grow TrueCare24. 

This company stands apart from other third-party Covid-19 testing services for businesses, with the largest network of more than 100K testing providers and labs throughout the U.S. This network enables TrueCare24 to leverage economies of scale, to offer high-quality (near 100 percent accuracy), low-cost testing services including temperature and symptom check and actual P.C.R.-based testing, as well as antigen testing which can produce results in as little as 10-60 minutes. It was a great opportunity for me to bring my ideas to the table and be part of some sort of breakthrough.

Since joining, I’ve been focused on product development, innovations, growth, and marketing functions.

What inspired the creation of the company?

We all struggle with balancing our busy lives and the things that matter the most: family, friends, and professional passions, and wasted time is especially frustrating. When you or a family member get sick, you've got to go through the hurdles of traditional healthcare, and it's just not practical for working professionals who also have families. 

At TrueCare24 we all value families and believe that our loved ones should be able to get high-quality care regardless of their income and status. This is how the TrueCare24 mission was created.

It offers flexible options for consumers which include single-visit and subscription plans.

In just a couple of sentences, what can TrueCare24 offer now in the pandemic?

Although at the beginning of pandemic, TrueCare24 was mainly offering services such as temperature checks and onsite COVID-19 testing, now its capabilities may play an important role in the anticipation of employers involved in the mass vaccination effort.

How do you use tech to better serve your clients' needs?

We live and work in an incredibly competitive and technologically advanced environment; application updates and new platforms are introduced almost every day aimed at improving people's lives. At TrueCare24 we constantly keep track of our customers’ needs and wants in order to offer them the best solutions in the market.

We built our company on one simple idea: our loved ones should be able to get high-quality care regardless of their income and status. In order to make something unprecedented come to life, we need concerted effort. Regarding AI as one of the key features of our platform, we have an app that enables online round-the-clock monitoring of each client's state of health. In other words, the app helps both employers and employees to simplify the process of managing COVID self-control and also track vaccination logistics. For instance, our app features a digital alarm that reminds you about the next shot.

Pivoting to COVID-19, how are you working with companies to help with testing and vaccinations?

TrueCare24 offers a full range of Onsite Coronavirus Control Services for Businesses, available across the entire U.S.

Our network comprises over 100,000 providers. When it comes to the vaccination, we are completely ready to organize and implement vaccination events and enable vaccination tracking for each individual.

Do you believe it is the workplace’s responsibility to test and vaccinate? Or are you just filling in a gap that you saw?

I believe it is becoming an important responsibility of each organization to provide easy access to health and wellness services including tests and vaccinations on-site. It is less time-consuming to have one vaccination event, as opposed to each individual going elsewhere on their own.

Plus in this case, the organization can be sure that those that require/want to be vaccinated did that. This is one of the ways to bring the workforce back to physical workplaces safely. 

How can workplaces best tackle the challenges of cost and complexity? Who should pay – workplaces or private insurers?

We see a strong interest from many organizations we service currently. First, organizations started with temperature checks, then added COVID-19 testing, and adding vaccination is another natural step for them.

TrueCare24 has been helping with these activities and is ready to help with mass vaccination being administered on-site as well. COVID-19 is surely a global challenge and only through collaboration with employers, health insurers, and local communities will we be able to win.

How is your WorkSafe Platform helping with this and does it serve additional functionality past COVID-19 testing/vaccination?

Image: Canva

First of all, our platform is user-friendly. WorkSafe is designed to make COVID-19 self-checking as simple as possible both for employees and employers.

Our newly developed Covid-19 HealthTracker will help companies track the doses and dates in which the vaccines should be administered. The Covid-19 HealthTracker will be available in our WorkSafe app in the next couple of months.

Anything you'd like to close with?

We’re very excited to extend the accessibility of the WorkSafe platform, while simultaneously expanding its functionality. One of the biggest challenges to mass vaccination is getting the right manufacturers' shots into the right arms at the right time.

By making it easier for employers to track the doses and dates on which vaccines should be administered, we’re helping organizations fulfill the responsibility of providing easy access to health and wellness services, including vaccinations on-site.

What’s next for TrueCare24?

We believe that our technology can promote wider and better social inclusion. In other words, I tend to think that this platform will still be in demand in the future, even after the mass vaccination as manufacturers will want to remain socially-oriented.