Powering the future of healthcare bookings

Sheraan Amod, founder of RecoMed

The platform, RecoMed, allows patients to not only book appointments with healthcare practitioners using their smartphone or computer, but also to rate these practitioners, along the lines of TripAdvisor. Similarly, medical aid administrators are using the system to book life insurance assessments, staff wellness appointments and a host of other bookings direct with practitioners, reducing admin costs and improving efficiencies.

Working with Discovery

The Discovery collaboration began in February 2017, and launched on 1 July 2017.

“Discovery's Wellness Clinics team was searching for a powerful online booking solution to implement in a very short time. We had great links to Discovery through their enterprise supplier development initiatives (they had sponsored RecoMed on international medtech development trips previously) as well as through our software integration partners in the healthcare industry.

"So far, we're handling 1,500 bookings a month for Discovery, using nine practitioners at five different clinics. There are around 10,000 staff members using this platform now, and it has gone without a hitch, which makes me very proud of what we have created, says Sheraan Amod, CEO of RecoMed.

How it all began

The journey of how RecoMed started in New York in 2013. “All my healthcare-related appointments were booked online. It saved me a ton of time and I could see a doctor by making a booking at 2am in the morning, the same way I has become accustomed to booking flights and hotel rooms.

By the time I came back to South Africa, I realised I was still spending my time in queues and waiting in line and that really sucked. Moreover, I didn't know a single one-stop resource to find new doctors and read patient reviews. Both my parents happen to be doctors and being a tech entrepreneur I took it upon myself to fix this problem for South African society. And from there, RecoMed was born to be the first national scale online healthcare booking platform in SA,” he says.

Reduces costs

RecoMed enables patients to find their closest doctor at any hour of the day or night – including approved service providers contracted by their medical aid – and to book the next available appointment. The system reduces practice costs and enhances a customer-centric care policy, as patients are at liberty to recommend their medic to the general population and comment on their experience.

Medical practitioners are charged a transactional booking fee, and in some cases a value-added percentage on the appointment value. New patients comprise 20-50% of bookings that doctors receive from RecoMed, depending on their specialisation and level of engagement on the platform.

“In 2016 we surpassed 1,000 doctors using our platform. In 2018 we expect to serve well over a million South African consumers.

"I believe that RecoMed will power the future of healthcare bookings in South Africa in both the enterprise and consumer sectors. Just about everyone has a smartphone in their pocket and less time than ever, so it's inevitable that platforms and marketplaces like RecoMed will revolutionise the way people go about their day-to-day lives,” Amod said.