Related
How organisations can use AI-powered telehealth to cultivate employee wellness
Arvind Raichur 24 May 2024
#StartupStory sponsored by
#StartupStory: Eagle Intelligent Health, connecting patients with doctors virtually
9 May 2023
The world is becoming fully digital. Advancements in AI and other tech are also speeding this process up. Think back to the Covid-19 pandemic and how our hands were forced to become more digitally affluent. One startup is aiming to digitise how patients and doctors connect by eliminating the factor of having to physically go out and get medical consultations. This company is Eagle Intelligent Health, founded by entrepreneur Arvind Raichur.
Arvind Raichur, CEO and co-founder of Eagle Intelligent Health | image supplied
Eagle Intelligent Health is described as a secure telehealth platform that allows patients to connect to skilled South African doctors in the app from anywhere, regardless of location. Patients can start affordable telemedicine video visits and, get shareable electronic sick notes and prescriptions sent right to their phones.
Bizcommunity caught up with Raichur to find out more about Eagle Intelligent Health...
What inspired you to create a telehealth platform like Eagle Intelligent Health, and what sets it apart from other solutions currently available in the market?
Historically, healthcare technologies have been developed and designed to cater to the needs of doctors and insurance companies. What is special about the Eagle Intelligent Health technology is that it was developed specifically with the patient and their needs in mind.
We wanted to give people an easy-to-use platform that makes it simple for them to access quality care from skilled physicians, better understand their health, and manage their family’s health from one convenient place.
Eagle Intelligent Health was born out of my experience being a caregiver to my mother, where I quickly learned that it was important for me to understand the information in her medical records including her conditions and medications.
I couldn’t be an effective advocate for her without this knowledge. This inspired me to create a platform that gives people better access to healthcare, puts patients first, and empowers them with the resources that they need to help keep the whole family healthier.'
Can you tell us about any partnerships or collaborations that Eagle Intelligent Health has established to further its mission of disrupting the healthcare industry?
We are excited about our partnership with MediBüddy and our ability to license the Eagle Intelligent Health technology for their use in South Africa. The platform we have built was designed to provide easier access to quality healthcare to people in all South African communities, regardless of their location.
One of the great things about the partnership with MediBüddy is that it enables us to bring our technology and services to people who may have traditionally had challenges in quickly accessing healthcare due to cost and distance.
Now when someone’s feeling sick, it’s easy to start an affordable telemedicine visit to quickly get the quality care they need and to get shareable prescriptions and sick notes sent right to their phone.
The longer someone waits to be seen by a physician or receive care, the more at risk they are. So, this faster and easier way of connecting with skilled physicians can help lead to better outcomes.
Can you tell us more about your previous ventures and how they led to the founding of Eagle Intelligent Health?
I began my career in the legal space as an attorney but was soon fascinated with how people could use technology to solve problems.
In the early days of the internet, and as a lawyer, I recognised that legal information wasn’t accessible in a usable form for the consumer so I founded my first companies, attorneylocate.com, and alllaw.com to help solve that problem.
My companies provided consumers with easy access to legal information and we built an amazing network with well over 1 million pages of user-friendly content. Additionally, the platform provided easy access to legal professionals across the country.
The companies were sold to Internet Brands in 2010 (shortly thereafter internet brands bought WebMD).
One of the things I’ve discovered over time, and have continued to build on with each successive company is how to use technology to provide the transparent information people are looking for.
In the case of Eagle Intelligent Health, we want to make it easier for the patient to find and understand everything concerning their own healthcare.
By giving them physician-trusted resources in easy-to-understand language about their own conditions and medications they have the resources needed to be advocates for themselves.
Understanding what it means to have a particular condition, diagnosis, or why they’re taking a certain prescription, empowers them to take control of their personal healthcare journey, which can help lead to the best results for everyone.
What challenges did you face in building and scaling Eagle Intelligent Health, and how did you overcome them?
The Eagle Intelligent Health platform is built on technology with six issued patents. The platform makes it simple to access and bring in digital records and share them as needed. T
he idea originally came about based on the electronic health records that exist in the US. Our technology reads medical information and turns clinical terms into easy-to-understand language. This is at the core of our platform to help make it easier for people to understand more about their health.
We’ve taken our technology and applied it to South Africa’s unique healthcare needs. The technology provides easy access to quality healthcare via telemedicine with skilled physicians and also gives the tools needed to better understand medical conditions or medications after a doctor's visit.
We believe that our technology is one of the best ways to help the people of South Africa best manage their health.
Can you share any exciting plans or developments in the pipeline for Eagle Intelligent Health?
One thing we’re excited about is how we continue to expand on the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning to help patients better understand their health. Empowered with this information about their conditions, medications, and courses of care they can find new ways to improve their overall health and wellness.
Another exciting development on the roadmap is to provide people with more wellness information to help them prevent disease as well as manage existing conditions. Providing access to quality information on wellness can make people healthier, both physically and mentally, allowing them to live a better life.
How do you see the telehealth industry evolving in the next few years, and how is Eagle Intelligent Health positioned to stay ahead of the curve?
I believe that in the next few years, there will be a big increase in people who use telehealth visits as their first interaction with physicians each time they get sick. People will no longer have to travel long distances or wait a long time at the doctor’s office or clinic to receive care.
Telemedicine is a fast and convenient way for patients to connect to a skilled South African doctor they can trust at an affordable price. Telemedicine will become the first step in a patient’s health journey when they are sick.
The differentiating factor for Eagle Intelligent Health is that in addition to providing telemedicine services, we also make it easy for people to build an electronic health record of their conditions, medications, allergies, and more.
The value of collecting your own personal medical records is that this information can be used by doctors to diagnose new conditions and determine future treatments. People’s health history is secure in our PoPI-compliant platform and they can access and share it with doctors and family members when needed.
Users can also use their Eagle Intelligent Health Personal Health Search Engine to see physician-trusted resources written in easy-to-understand language about their specific conditions and medications. This is a powerful and unique way to help them better understand their health and become better advocates for their care.
Can you tell us about a particularly memorable experience or achievement during your entrepreneurial journey?
Launching Eagle Intelligent Health in South Africa is absolutely something that I view as one of the best achievements in my career as an entrepreneur.
We’re excited to help make such a difference in people’s lives and I believe that providing increased access to healthcare for millions of South Africans is something that I will be proud of forever.
What advice would you give to other startups looking to disrupt traditional industries through innovative technology solutions?
(Answer) I would encourage entrepreneurs to not be afraid to go into well-established industries and look for opportunities to improve them.
Oftentimes the biggest disruptions come from companies outside of a specific area. When people talk about needing to think outside of the box, I find the best strategy is to BE outside the box, to begin with.
A great example of this is that Uber was not built out of a taxi company, Amazon was not built out of a retailer, and Tesla was not built out of a car company.
The ability to think outside of the box and solve existing problems in new ways is key to being an entrepreneur. If you see a problem and you think you have a better solution, go for it.
