MARKETING

MANAGEMENT
Case: American Well - The Doctor Will E-See You Now

Group Members

 Abhishek Upadhyay 18A1HP099

 Anindya Basu 18A1HP081
 Akshita Jain 18A1HP082
 Ashish Gupta 18A2HP446
 Akshita Agarwal 17A3HP469
 Khushboo Bardia 18A1HP053

Assignment submitted to:-

Prof. MANOJ DAS
Case Synopsis

“American Well”, an online healthcare service provider, was founded by Ido Schoenberg and
Roy Schoenberg in 2006. Ido, having founded two companies earlier in the same field, along
with Roy examined how IT solutions could bridge the gaps in healthcare. The founders
believed that technology could be leveraged to provide health care to people in a much faster
and efficient way by improving healthcare delivery and the way patients interacted with
physicians. The USP of American Well lies in connecting the patients, physicians and
specialists in real time. Patients could log on to the system at a convenient time and choose
with a current available list of doctors matching their request. The chosen doctor would then
be granted access to examine the medical records of the patient and interact with the patient.
This not only favors early diagnosis of the medical emergency but also saves time for the
customer by preventing scheduling further visits with PCPs after consulting with their
specialists. Since its inception in 2006, American Well landed its first client HMSA (Hawaii
Medical Service Association) in 2009 followed by BCBS (Blue Cross Blue Shield) TriWest
Healthcare Alliance and Optum health. The main value proposition for the insurance
companies was significant savings.
“Team edition”, a new product of American Well is in the development phase. With
this product, there are plans to increase efficiency, flexibility of time and accessibility of the
platform through any geographical location. This real-time meeting of the doctors, patients
and pharmacists shall make a great impact.
Q1. Do you share the assessment of the founders regarding the potential of online care
to revolutionize healthcare delivery?
Yes. The idea was to remove the hindrance of physical location and time availability by
creating a service which bridges the gap of supply and demand. It provided an online
platform which revolutionized the way a patient and doctors interacts.
Patients – As per exhibit 5, 56% of the people voted for “there is less time waiting for an
appointment” and 45% voted for” saves on transport cost”. So, convenience, affordability,
accessibility, immediacy and quality were the points of focus for them. The hindrance of
location and time was removed; there was no need to schedule an appointment in advance.
Physical queues turned into virtual ones, and the services were more personalized with self-
management tools and records of care.
Doctors - The value proposition for doctors varied intensely. The working hours were
flexible, an opportunity to earn extra on weekends or late hours, alleviated the need of extra
infrastructure and so reduced the cost. The registered physicians could easily log in to the
system and take sessions with the patients.
Insurance company - The amount which the insurance companies reimbursed to the
physicians for online consultation was lower as compared to the office visit. The Actuarial
Digest estimated that online care could save insurers $3.36 per patient per month. Moreover,
they were also able to open their doors to nonmembers who were willing to pay out of their
pockets. Also, over the next two decades, the Americans over the age of 65 would comprise
1/5th of the total population. Thus, the potential of online care to revolutionize healthcare
delivery will prove to be beneficial.
Q2. What value do you see “Team edition” creating? What barriers to its adoption do
you foresee?
“Team edition” was the next generation service concept that was about to be launched by the
American well to revolutionize the interactions between doctors. Some of the values
associated with Team Edition are as follows:
 Real Time Connectivity: The main purpose of this next generation product was to
connect the patients to the specialists if they are referred by the PCPs’ so as to avoid
the wastage of time keeping in mind the patients comfort.
 Solution at Initial Stages: Finding solution for the patient’s ailments at the initial
stages would not only reduce the complications but would also reduce the cost for the
health insurance companies.
 Medical Licensing Barrier: For Team Edition, it was quite easy for the PCP and the
specialist to have an inter-state interaction without any barriers as most of the states
traditionally imposed medical licensing barrier.
Potential Barriers to adoption of Team Edition can be:
 Security Issues: There might be concern in patient’s mind as they thought that their
private information might be leaked related to their health issues with this new
technology and also the physicians would fear the malpractices litigations.
 Over-utilization of health care resources: The doctors were over worked and such a
system would give people a hobby that would lead to over consumption.
 Lack of personal touch: With the introduction of online health care services, the
physical interaction and the checkup of their ailments might result in ineffective
treatment as they were only to communicate their symptoms online.
Q3. Which of the new market opportunities did you see as most promising?
American Well, having their forte in online health care, is determined to enter the market
with a different and unexplored mindset. They recognize few areas such as hospitals, retail
clinics, pharmacy and globalization as opportunities in this domain. Pharmacy seems to be
most promising among all others due to the following:
 Beneficiary advantage: In case of unavailability of the drug, the pharmacist can
assist in finding a right substitute, suggesting side effects for the drugs (if any). The
customers can interact via online chats, video calls to address their concerns in a
better way.

 Revenue: The possibilities to generate revenues are endless with advertisements,

posters, promotional offers, etc. to attract customers with reduced prices for their
products and services. Also, customers would pay a considerable fee for the services
availed through the platform.

 Connectivity: With the online platform, connectivity is no longer an issue -

customers can reach out from anywhere at any time addressing their problems.
Q4. If you were in the shoes of American Well Management, would you pursue any of
the next generation options in 2010 or would you just focus on the core platform with
core target market?
We can establish that American Well has built a firm foundation in terms of customer
database in linking with insurance companies. They are negating any critical wait period in
communication between patients and concerned medical help; reducing medical cost for
patients; reducing insurance expenditures for insurance companies; this would formulate a
win-win strategy for all parties; doctors, patients, as well as employers.
Doctors would get a more flexible opportunity to earn more by working from home,
or at odd hours outside clinics. Patients would be able to gain access to specialists as
required. The average expense would reduce for the patients; the insurance companies would
spend lesser on the first time visits as well as avoid excess coverage.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
1. Established names of founders with successful history in medical sciences and
operations
2. With first mover advantage, they wished to solve critical problems on the basis of real
time intervention.
3. Can follow the franchise model to target insurance companies. Further, the existing
database of insurance companies could be utilized to strengthen their foundation.
Weakness:
1. They need to spread brand awareness in order to gain a wider customer base. This
would impact initial costs adversely.
2. Risk of information getting hacked and released in public can turn out to be a disaster
for both parties.
Opportunities:
1. There shall be a clear rise in demand for people seeking services in online care.
2. Potential expansion overseas with Australia, UK, and Germany showing interest.
They can further capitalise on the pharmaceutical outlets.
3. They can link real time excess capacity with real time demand. The pharmacies can
offer first line of help in case of unavailability of PCPs.
Threats:
1. Competition would exist from those who would approach with a similar business
model.
2. Opportunities are never lost, they are utilized by others. The future players will
explore missed opportunities to capitalise on their growth.
“Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Hence, we
would definitely venture out and explore further opportunities rather than only focusing on
the core market. We can have teams to address the various segments while some focus on the
core market, there should be others with the main focus on expanding outward into other
streams.