OneDoc trailblazes urgent online consultation

OneDoc, the Swiss online appointment platform totaling more than 2 million users launched its new Urgent Consultation feature. This functionality allows users to contact a healthcare professional rapidly through the OneDoc app, bypassing the traditional wait times associated with visiting an emergency room.

With this new feature, OneDoc is taking a significant step towards addressing the increasing challenges for emergency rooms in Switzerland by relieving overcrowded emergency services. Providing patients with a faster and more efficient way to access urgent care, OneDoc is making a real difference in the care conditions while improving the work environment of health professionals. As CEO and founder Arthur Germain explains to Startupticker.ch, OneDoc’s aim is to provide quick access to medical consultations to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits.

Two leading providers join forces

The launch of this feature was supported by OneDoc's recent acquisition of Que-Dit-le-Pédiatre, Switzerland’s first provider of pediatric online appointments and video consultations, including 24/7 emergency services. This takeover has allowed OneDoc to expand its services and provide even more comprehensive care to its users. Arthur Germain adds that the company can count with a network of more than 6’000 healthcare professionals.

"Emergency services in Switzerland are often overcrowded and short-staffed. Waiting times are rising, and in many cases, people wait to be eventually sent back home," said Arthur Germain, CEO of OneDoc. "This new emergency feature was created to address that situation. We are committed to providing our users with the best possible care, and this new feature is a major step towards achieving that goal. We believe it will have a positive impact on the crisis in the emergency rooms in Switzerland, and we are proud to be a part of that."

This new feature will appear as an "Urgent Consultation" tab in the OneDoc iOS and Android apps, available for free and already downloaded by over 100,000 patients in Switzerland. First enabling the patient to choose whether it concerns an adult or a pediatric emergency, the app then gives the option to immediately call a doctor, reachable in less than 10 seconds, or to book a video consultation within the next six hours.

Because of the rising cybersecurity threats and the absolute need to protect patients’ medical data, OneDoc has developed its proprietary video consultation solution, avoiding all the major video conference providers. By doing so, the company guarantees the best protection of patients’ and healthcare providers’ personal and medical information.

"We are thrilled to join OneDoc. This operation will bring our solution to the next level and contribute to offer a better healthcare system in Switzerland. Que-Dit-Le-Pédiatre was created two years ago to address the urgent needs of parents. We are delighted to now be able to leverage the OneDoc platform, giving patients better access to emergency services and to healthcare in general, and fulfilling our primary ambition" adds Maddalena di Meo, Founder of Que-Dit-Le-Pédiatre and CEO of Baby & Kids Care.

Eyeing the future of healthcare

Along the deployment of its Urgent Consultation feature, Arthur Germain’s team is set to be busy in the coming months on new developments to further improve the experience. Speaking of the future, the CEO has a clear vision. “Switzerland offers high quality healthcare services, among the best in the world. However, the healthcare system is facing serious challenges, which have been aggravated by the Covid crisis. I am referring in particular to the lack of hospital staff or the shortage of medicines. We created OneDoc with the idea that we can provide solutions to these problems. We believe that digital technology has the ability to facilitate the connection between people, which is why our network of healthcare professionals plays a key role.” Headquartered in Geneva, OneDoc is present in Zurich and just opened a new office in Lugano.

(ES)