Heal is a health-tech startup headquartered in Los Angeles, operating a web and mobile app based telehealth and house call service in the United States. It was founded by Dr. Renee Dua in 2014. The company’s in-home services are available throughout California, with additional operations in Atlanta, Seattle, Spokane, Northern Virginia and Washington D.C., New Jersey, and New York City. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Heal’s telemedicine services were extended to all residents of the relevant states, as well as to Maryland.
History
Heal was founded in 2014 by Nephrologist Dr. Renee Dua, M.D. and her husband, entrepreneur Nick Desai. February 2015 marked the first Heal house call, and a $12 million seed round of funding was completed. In 2016, Heal raised $26.9 million in Series A financing with participation from Breyer Capital, Hashtag One and Slow Ventures, along with Qualcomm's executive chairman, Paul Jacobs, and the chief executive of Skydance Media, David Ellison. Shortly after, the company closed a Series B round of funding, including investment from Fidelity Investments and Research, in the amount of $14.8 million. By February 2017, Heal doctors had seen more than 16,000 patients. Lionel Richie invested in Heal, partly as a result of his personal challenges with securing consistent healthcare while on tour. Heal extended its service area from California to Washington DC, with plans to add additional markets in 2018. In 2018, Heal expanded to Atlanta, GA and introduced Medicare coverage. At the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, Heal introduced the Heal Hub device in to securely transmit individual patient healthcare data to their doctors and other healthcare providers. In September 2019, Heal acquired the New York City-based company Doctors on Call for $15 million that marked the startup’s quick expansion to Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs, as well as parts of New Jersey. As of April 2020, Heal has in-network partnerships with all major insurance companies, and has raised over $71.7 million in venture capital. Some investors include Glenview Capital, IRA Capital, Fargo Investments, Trans-Pacific Technology Fund, Pendrell Capital. Between February and March 2020, requests for Heal house calls reportedly spiked by 200 percent. Eligible patients would now include all residents of all states where Heal doctors were already operational.
Awards
In 2018, Heal won the Web Marketing Association’s MobileWebAward for Best Health Care Mobile Application. The Heal Hub device earned a 2018 CES Innovation Award in the Smart Home category. In 2019, the Consumer Technology Association, host of the CES Innovation Awards, named Heal its “Entrepreneur of the Year”. In April 2020, Heal was selected by Apple Inc. as the “App of the Day” in the App Store.
As of April 2020 heal house and telemedicine calls are covered in-network by the following insurance providers: Aetna, Health Net of California, Anthem Blue Cross California, BlueShield California, Humana, Medicare, United Healthcare, WellCare, and Alignment Healthcare. Patients with other insurers or without insurance coverage are charged a flat fee.
