HealthEngine chases online doctor appointments

Booking an appointment with a clinician can be a vexing experience. They’re often booked solid, and there’s no easy way to see if there’s a slot to suit your schedule aside from calling the practice.

A WA-based service is aiming to turn this situation on its head. HealthEngine started out as a listing service for clinicians. Last week, however, it pulled back the curtains on a service allowing patients to view a clinician’s free slots and schedule an appointment online.

“We launched the service in mid February focusing on Western Australia,” the service’s founder, Dr Marcus Tan, told eHealthspace.org.

Dr Tan said around 600 bookings have been taken so far. He is looking to expand the service to the east coast over the next few months.

The revenue model is based on clinicians paying a monthly subscription to the service. Bookings appear as a sidebar in the practice manager’s desktop software, and there’s also a free iPhone app aimed at patients.

The practice manager or receptionist has to electronically move the booking into their in-house system, as direct links are not available.

“We’ve found practice receptionists don’t like things happening to their appointment book outside of their control,” Dr Tan said.