Council In the News Index

Texas House Call Company Coming to Massachusetts (Boston Business Journal)

Boston Business Journal - by Julie M. Donnelly

Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010

Doctors making house calls is something only seen these days on reruns of “Little House on the Prairie.” But a Texas company is launching its concierge health service in Massachusetts this week, with the aim of providing convenience to patients and savings to their employers.

WhiteGlove House Call Health provides visits by nurse practitioners to a patient’s home or office, for routine primary care.

“The cost of care is spiralling and we’re the first to bring it to consumers as a membership product,” WhiteGlove Bob Fabbio said. Fabbio said the business model is much like that of CostCo — WhiteGlove makes its money on the membership fees, not the house calls. Large companies pay $25 per employee or dependent per month for the service. Employees pay $35 per visit for each covered individual. Individuals, even those without health insurance, are also eligible to join the service.

The company says that within two hours of a call, WhiteGlove will send a nurse practitioner to a patient’s home or workplace. The health care provider will arrive with a so-called “Well-kit” containing anything a sick person might need or want, like ginger ale, crackers, chicken soup, cough drops, etc. It also includes the cost of any prescriptions that are written for the patient, as long as they are filled at Walmart, which through a partnership, will bill WhiteGlove for the medication.

The service is geared toward self-insured employers that pay all employees’ health claims directly. One goal is to reduce employers’ costs by diverting routine health care away from the emergency room, which could cost self-insured companies thousands of dollars per episode.

While $35 per visit may seem high — most co-pays for primary care are only $10 to $20 — the trend towards high-deductible plans means that employees may save money, particularly when prescriptions are involved.
Appointments are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.

Chris Anderson, president of the Mass High Tech Council, said local executives are hungry for new health care ideas to combat skyrocketing costs.

“This is an opportunity ... for a self-insured employers to take charge of health, improve the worker’s view of the care they’re receiving and to also reduce costs,” Anderson said.

But Nancy Turnbull, professor at Harvard School of Public Health, said she has some concerns about this type of health care. “It can cause care to become more fragmented, because these practitioners may not have access to all of a patient’s medical records.”

Fabbio said the service does conduct an extensive triage of patients by phone before sending a provider.

The service is currently available in five markets in Texas, and Fabbio says four of those operations are profitable.

The company has raised three rounds of venture capital funding for a total of $16 million. There are currently four employees on the ground in Massachusetts. Fabbio declined to give revenue for the company, but said he expected “triple-digit growth” this year.

Julie M. Donnelly can be reached at juliedonnelly@bizjournals.com.