San Francisco, CA– The healthcare startup, Grand Rounds, pairs patients with identified healthcare experts that are uniquely qualified to provide them the care they need. And it doesn’t matter whether that person who is best qualified is next door or halfway across the country. Through empowering patients and removing current barriers to receiving a patient’s desired care, Grand Rounds has begun to truly make waves in healthcare connectivity (acquiring a total of $106 million in outside funding).
“The U.S. spends over $40 billion annually on spinal surgeries alone — that is nearly a third of federal education spending,” said Bryan Roberts, partner at Venrock, which invested in Grand Rounds early on. “If these patients received a Grand Rounds consultation as part of their decision-making process, we could save $24 billion in avoidable procedures, not to mention the associated complications and diminished quality of life.”
Grand Rounds’ CEO, Owen Tripp, cited research indicating that when expert physicians examine first opinions by non-specialist physicians, the opinion or diagnosis (or both) is wrong in 67% of cases. “That is an information technology problem,” Tripp said.
The issues with the current models of care are that patients will often receive initial diagnoses or treatment paths that aren’t specific to that doctor’s wheelhouse or expertise. To help bridge these gaps in treatment, Grand Rounds has developed products designed to smoothly connect the right patient to the right doctor, and ultimately the right path of treatment.
Currently, the company offers three unique products:
- The Grand Rounds Opinions, which allows patients to receive second opinions on treatment plans or on a particular diagnosis.
- The Grand Rounds Office Visits, which acts as a referral service that pairs patients with the top phyisicans in their area and sets up appointments.
- The Grand Rounds STAT, which allows people with serious illnesses to connect their doctors with top medical specialists around the country to discuss diagnoses and treatment plans.
The key cause of Grand Rounds’ growth lies the fact that they are proving over and over again that they are able to improve the outcomes of patients all the while making the healthcare experience cost-effective and efficient.
