Tackling convenience, access and insurance tracking. Introducing the Solv app.
Solv was built around a simple mission: to put consumers a few taps away from the healthcare that they need, when they need it. Our ambition has always been to make it easy to answer three questions that still feel frustratingly friction-full in healthcare — where should I go for the problem I have, when can I be seen, and how much does it cost?
We are excited to share that we’ve seen tremendous traction. Consumers are demanding access and convenience for their everyday healthcare needs. So, we built a convenient care network of same-day appointments available at high-quality urgent care centers across the country, and consumers love it. In the past year alone, the total number of visits managed through Solv has tripled, from 2.7 million last year to now more than 8 million. What I’m most excited about, is that as of today, over 70 million people in the US can now get an appointment within an hour on Solv, and we’re hard at work to reach all 325 million!
The data shows why people are turning to us to access same-day care. In a new report we’re issuing today, we found 85% of people would consider it a deal-breaker when choosing a doctor if they can’t be seen in the next week. In addition, 56% of people have skipped care altogether because it simply wasn’t convenient enough. We also see that consumers are using convenient care in between their primary care visits when driving across town or getting same-day appointment access isn’t an option. In fact, while only 50% of Millennials say they have a relationship with a primary care physician, 77% of those who do have a PCP visit urgent care.
Using Solv to book an appointment isn’t just more convenient, it can also save hundreds to thousands of dollars out-of-pocket per person by providing access to the right care, instead of that person going to the ER as their only option today if they need to be seen after hours or on weekends. We all know that access to 24-hour care at the ER is a critical part of our care delivery system. However, research indicates that up to half of the 137 million emergency room visits that take place annually in the U.S. could be treated at a care site other than the emergency room (urgent care, retail clinic, telemedicine). I think we can all agree that paying a $500-$3000 facility fee on top of your service is not acceptable, for anyone.
On Solv, 14% patients we help say they would’ve gone to the ER if they didn’t book online using Solv. To date, we’ve saved people over $200 million in steep medical bills that they would have paid had they gone to the ER. We think this is worth celebrating!
Today, we’re building on this progress by unveiling two exciting new products that bring a new level of convenience and transparency for consumers in healthcare.
Our first-ever mobile app is here
Finally, an app! We’ve been mobile web optimized from the jump, but like many other startups, we wanted to spend the time understanding consumer behavior and preferences without the friction of an app download. After all, visiting a doctor’s office isn’t a once a week restaurant booking on OpenTable, a 3x/week ride around town on Lyft or the daily habit of checking out new dream homes on Trulia.
What we learned is that consumers do want a frictionless experience. They don’t want to repeat the same process again and again every time they visit their favorite urgent care center. They’ve told us, “make this like Amazon.” They asked that when they open the app, their favorite providers are surfaced first, anywhere they’ve previously visited is a few taps away from an instant booking. That their kids’ profiles, their insurance cards and paperwork are saved and automatically sent to the front desk before they arrive. The typical 2+ hour experience of finding same day availability, booking an appointment, filling out paperwork (again) and waiting…is cut down to seconds. And so we did just that.
Today, we’re excited to unveil the Solv app for iOS. Our iOS app is available today in the App Store for free, and Android will be launching in the Google Play Store later this year.
You can now track your healthcare spending and insurance deductible on Solv, too
Health insurance is notoriously confusing–especially for the 47% of individuals that have high deductible health plans. It’s both sad and embarrassing, that in our research, consumers say their health insurance is harder to understand than their taxes or their credit score. At the same time, more than half of people don’t feel like their insurance company is on their side.
We’re tackling this problem by giving people a simple way to know where they stand when it comes to healthcare spending. Users can now take a picture of their insurance card, and for all the major carriers, they can view the progress they’ve made toward their deductible on Solv and uncover the discounts and free stuff they didn’t even know they had access to. We provide this real time tracking of user’s health insurance, along with a customized tutorial about their plan to break down the confusing insurance language point by point. Oh, and your card is digitized and readily available in the Solv app, whenever you need it (my most frequent, non-healthcare use case is filling out school forms–again–for my kids!).
This is just the beginning of our mission to bring simplicity and transparency to insurance. Everything on your phone, within a few taps on your app.
If you’re a reporter interested in learning more about Solv, email press@solvhealth.com.
