Workpath was launched in 2015 to connect phlebotomists—technicians who draw blood samples—with businesses needing to have their customers tested. In 2018, we pivoted and launched an online platform that helps all sorts of mobile healthcare teams—from those conducting ultrasounds to EKGs to other tests—dispatch their services to patients’ homes or wherever they are needed.

 

Most healthcare scheduling and workforce management solutions are built on the concept of having all the labor—such as doctors and nurses—in one place and asking patients to come in for care. We took a fundamentally different approach and built Workpath to take care of the patient wherever they happen to be.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has only reinforced our business model, and both our revenue and demand for our services have grown considerably in recent months. But we have also taken proactive steps to better align our business with needs during these challenging and unprecedented times in healthcare.

 

How COVID-19 has generated demand

Many healthcare providers have experienced lower demand since the pandemic started because patients haven’t wanted to go into medical facilities if they don’t need to. That has fueled demand for mobile healthcare.

 

In January, we started getting inquiries from existing clients on the West Coast looking to offer or expand home-based services after learning the COVID-19 virus would soon be reaching the U.S. Once the virus was confirmed to be spreading within the U.S. and states enacted stay-at-home orders, demand for Workpath surged.

 

A few examples:

  • A company that conducts clinical research on breast cancer patients implemented Workpath’s solution to completely reconstruct the delivery model and start providing blood tests in the patients’ homes.
  • In April, a healthcare startup began using Workpath to provide COVID-19 diagnostic and antibody testing in clients’ homes. They have since expanded their offerings on Workpath to include elective medical procedures and urgent care services.
  • Life insurers have to conduct a paramedical exam before insuring someone—so we have seen greater interest from them as they look to provide in-home exams.

 

Overall, appointments made through Workpath have grown 165% since mid-January, and our subscription revenue grew 26% between February and April. March was an especially big growth month for us, as our monthly revenue was up 80% year over year.

 

Adapting to customers’ needs

While our business model was already aligned with healthcare needs during the pandemic, we’ve also adapted to become more useful to our customers and prospective customers.

 

For example, one men’s health company we work with began adding telehealth appointments via video calls to oversee the COVID-19 saliva tests across the U.S. So, Workpath now supports those appointments and manages the availability and qualifications of the healthcare providers who are supervising those tests over video.

 

Since traffic to our platform has been growing rapidly, we also reprioritized our goals for the year and focused on improving the user experience and ensuring the platform could facilitate that growth. We recently introduced a free trial promotion for small healthcare teams. That has generated many new sign-ups for Workpath that hopefully will turn into long-term clients. We have seen our client base grow overall about 80% since January.

 

A long-term trend

While the pandemic has accelerated mobile healthcare due to concerns over social distancing, we don’t see that demand ebbing any time soon. In fact, at least a few of our clients have told us they expect to continue providing in-home healthcare services because they see it as a long-term opportunity. Moreover, consumers are telling them they love the convenience.

 

We are also seeing new opportunities as interest in mobile healthcare grows. For example, our platform aligns nicely with telehealth and allowing patients to communicate with doctors and nurses over the internet or phone—so we are expanding our telehealth services. Many telehealth providers need to offer testing to their remote patients. For example, a doctor may suspect a patient has strep throat but needs that patient tested. Mobile health teams can offer in-home strep tests. We have started talking with a major telehealth care company so we can be that last mile of care for them.

 

As we look to the future, we also see our platform evolving and becoming more of a marketplace model in which healthcare providers who don’t have mobile teams can link up with those that do.

 

While the pandemic has been tough on so many small companies, it’s also accelerating some trends—such as remote working and reliance on mobile technology—that will only help businesses be more efficient and serve their customers better. We plan to be one of the companies doing that.

 

How has your business fared during the pandemic? Have you had to adapt your product or services? Share your insights in the comments section below.

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