Is Patient Scheduling Software Valuable to Doctors?
I am a huge fan of entrepreneurs who want to make medical care more productive and consumer friendly. I wish all of them the best of success. Unfortunately, I am concerned that one of the trends attracting venture capital is chasing a shrinking market. That trend is patient-scheduling software in physicians’ offices.
I was at an angel investor pitch off in Arlington, Virginia, yesterday where one such firm was seeking investors. Two great incubator/accelerators, StartUp Health in New York and Rock Health in San Francisco (and, now, New York) have invested in Arsenal Health, inventor of Smart Scheduling.
Firms like this promise algorithms that use data to predict cancellations and no-shows. I suppose this is the flipside of ZocDoc, the remarkably successful business that doctors use to find new patients to fill appointments that have been cancelled.
These are all great ideas. I am just not sure they make sense in the future environment, where there will be surplus of patients and a shortage of doctors. A few years from now, when the U.S. has Canadian-style waiting lists to see specialists, why would a physician invest in technology to manage cancellations and no-shows?
Such technology would be very valuable where there is a surplus of doctors competing for a limited number of patients. But I don’t think anyone anticipates that for U.S. health care. I hope I am wrong.
