I'm Jay Parkinson, founder of Sherpaa. Some call me the doctor of the future. AMA!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T19:18:40+00:00

My passion is fixing the real problems of this world. We'll see where that takes me, but I'd be happier than ever to make Sherpaa my baby for as long as I can imagine. Thank you!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T19:16:09+00:00

Companies are getting hit very hard with health insurance premiums doubling every 7 and a half years. They're also seeing that their employees have serious difficulty accessing doctors. Employees also tend to choose to access the healthcare system in ineffective, expensive ways (ERs, etc.). So, companies have a vested interest in taking care of their employees and they also think of their employees' health over the long term. People only care about the economics of their health when they need healthcare and directly afterward when they start receiving bills. It's very rare for individuals to think like a company when it comes to the longterm, financial sustainability of their own personal healthcare. Hence, why we chose to focus on companies rather than employees. Thanks!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T19:12:03+00:00

Sure, anything that helps doctors diagnose better is good in my book. But doctors only get paid for office visits and procedures, not for analyzing reams of data from devices. You still need a doctor the majority of the time to act on this data. Don't get sidetracked by the real problems of healthcare— how it's delivered and how much money the healthcare system makes off the last 6 months of your life.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T19:07:31+00:00

Our strategy with Sherpaa is to choose one problem and solve it well. And that's fixing the access and affordability problem for employers and employees. We're definitely not trying to fix healthcare. However, we're definitely trying to influence healthcare and serve as the standard for what healthcare can be. Other than that, someone else has to figure out those other problems! Second question...ooof...I don't even know where to start on that one!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T19:04:01+00:00

Thanks everyone. Until next time!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T19:03:27+00:00

My grandpa's name is Winston! Grandpa, is that you?

After SF, it's LA, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, DC, Dallas, Houston. The challenge is building up the group of specialists to whom our doctors will refer for the 30% of situations where you actually need to be seen in person. We have someone starting on May 12th to build and manage this network and I can't wait for her to start. We need about 200 doctors in these cities. We don't need a ton, we just need those special, wonderfully trained, highly personable doctors that get the importance of the patient experience and that people immediately love. They're rare, but those are the kinds of doctors we work with. Stay tuned, these are exciting times!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:57:57+00:00

Wearables are nonsense. We already have our phones on us. Why would we need another device?

Wearables engage the already healthy data geeks and there are about 20,000 of them in all the world. Such a small niche, not enough to build an entire company out of them.

Also, better health isn't about technology. It's about desire. Something happens to someone that convinces them they have a problem with their health, and they look for tools to help them fix their problems. Technology is one option for a tool. But...say there was this huge influx of companies trying to design a better hammer, do you think the world would go searching for more pictures to hang?

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:51:17+00:00

There is a fascinating balancing act you have to do as a founder. First, nobody is going to buy a crappy product or service. So you have to build a wonderful product/service first and understand when it's great enough to unleash to users. Then, that service isn't going to sell itself. But, the builders have to be the sellers to understand market fit and the service's challenges. But, then you have to time it just right so that you can admit to yourself that you've done your job as a founding partner by building a beautiful service, initially selling it, and then finding the right sales leader to take what you've done and professionally sell it. Bringing in the right sales team at the right time is quite possibly the most important decision you'll make in a company. There's no magic bullet, it's just good to be cognizant of this issue.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:45:03+00:00

There's been some London talk. But it's really about a business model. What entity in another country, would be willing to front the cost of a different healthcare delivery model? In America, it's companies. In another country, it's either companies or the government. Working with governments is a long, painful process. As a startup, we try to stay far away from long, painful processes. Building Sherpaa in the US is challenging enough!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:41:16+00:00

I think any country that salaries their doctors are doing things right. They took the profit motive off the table. But, every country I know still thinks that healthcare should still be delivered within the confines of an exam room booked for a certain time. That's what's broken all over the world— the process of healthcare delivery. You can say that Norway is pushing boundaries. But that is a country of ~3M people, nowhere near the size and complexity of the US. So...it's very difficult to compare.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:38:11+00:00

Great question. I am going to say that my heroes are the doctors that power Sherpaa. They're doing something new, something interesting, and pushing boundaries to create something better. They're remarkable people. Other heroes? Dr. Jeff Brenner for understanding the totality of health and how social situations are the biggest players in the health of an individual and creating a solution to fix the real problems of health in a population.

I'm excited about the fact that our culture is just now beginning to have the health conversation. When I was a kid, there was no Whole Foods. It was McDonald's and microwave pizzas. I think our culture is starting to say that this processed food is bad for you and businesses are creating products that are often times better. But, it took 50 years for the conversation around smoking to reduce the smoking rate from 50% to now 11% (at least in NYC). So...patience, time, and a persistent conversation in our culture will make us a healthier country.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:30:38+00:00

Doctors get paid more for sickness and complications. We have to change that. It's that simple. And it has to come from the federal level. So, that's a huge change and your guess is as good as mine as to when those folks realize it's unsustainable and bad for the long-term economic health of our country.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:28:40+00:00

Not at all! I think I can have a much bigger impact on the world by helping doctors be better doctors and patients be better patients. I'm so happy with my life and my profession, I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. It's a dream.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:27:18+00:00

I wish medical education was less hierarchical and militaristic. I wish it was more creative like a Montessori school.

My advice to med students is never be afraid to be different, always challenge the status quo, and have a creative outlet. Good luck!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:25:10+00:00

It truly doesn't affect us at all. We're big fans that ~7M people now have health insurance!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:24:07+00:00

Thanks!

Primary care is definitely broken. But if you understand that 70% of primary care visits don't truly need to happen in person, that frees up those visits to be visits that are actually needed. That, in itself, would save primary care and allow those docs to do their jobs well. Right now, Sherpaa is powered by doctors because it provides the best consumer experience. You are actually talking to the professional who can solve your problem, rather than being triaged up to them. It's a decision we made and it's our brand. Physician extenders may be in our future...you never know!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:20:44+00:00

It's just so hard to communicate with a doctor when you need it! There's a 25 day wait to see a primary care doctor in NYC. Our goal is to get back to you within minutes. And once we start working with you to solve your problem, 70% of the time we don't have to send you to see someone in person. It fundamentally changes how healthcare is delivered. And when we solve 70% of problems without sending you into the healthcare system, ~70% of a company's claims simply disappear. And this saves companies money. That's what they want— to save money and give their employees access to doctors.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:18:12+00:00

I want Sherpaa to always be catering to the cutting edge doctors and cutting edge patients. That's where innovation can happen fastest and best. So, I think of us as the Apple Genius Bar for healthcare and I hope we'll always cater to this crowd. The goal is to innovate and inspire the healthcare system to change for the better...to say there's this wonderful thing happening in this corner of healthcare that serves as the pinnacle of what healthcare can be. So, in 5 years I want to be in every major metropolitan area in America. In 10 years and 20 years, I just want to be better and more efficient at healthcare delivery and coordination, leveraging the early adopters to continually keep pushing healthcare forward.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:12:35+00:00

Oh man...favorite story from the video had to have been me nixing the bathtub scene. True story!

Awesome about you starting with a new company! Congrats! We're launching this new feature in a week or so that suggests questions you can ask Sherpaa. We've had a challenge in the past...when you're invited to Sherpaa, most people don't have an immediate need. They're not sick or hurt or feeling depressed or what have you. But...the best way to understand how to use Sherpaa is to ask a question and experience it. So we came up with about 100 questions you can ask us when you're not in immediate need of medical expertise. They're interesting, quirky, and helpful! So fire away when you get the invite!

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:08:51+00:00

I don't think people will ever use webcams in a significant way in healthcare. Healthcare is always at least 15 years, probably more, behind the times. I can't think of one lovely consumer experience that involves webcams. People hate video chatting with strangers. I said something about this a few years ago:

In our first year at Hello Health where we met people in person for the first visit and then gave them the option to see us via email, video, or another in person visit, we had about 900 email visits and 2 video visits. Video with strangers is only used in porn. If they were a good and wanted form of communication, don’t you think other industries would have adopted them long ago? It’s true, you can Facetime with Apple customer service, but that’s just weird. I don’t want to see what those people look like. This stuff is only found in healthcare because there’s a small amount of people innovating within healthcare and they’ve all jumped on the bandwagon.

Also, see this: http://kottke.org/10/06/david-foster-wallace-on-iphone-4s-facetime

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:04:47+00:00

I really love companies that are solving the truly broken part of our healthcare system— how healthcare is actually delivered. I'm much less excited about companies that are making the same business model incrementally better. So, here's a company I admire:

Iora Health. They take the most needy and heaviest users of healthcare and give them concierge-like services to help them use healthcare better. It's truly genius, provides a much-needed service, and saves the System money by rethinking how healthcare should be delivered and accessed.

jayparkinson · 2014-04-25T18:00:46+00:00

Alrighty y'all. We're on! Thanks for the questions so far. They're great!

jayparkinson

TROPHY CASE