An online platform that connects doctors to patients is changing the way Victorians approach seeing a doctor in this day and age.
Based out of Ontario, one company has come to the forefront of the health care landscape in BC by connecting people with physicians through technology.
Rocket Doctor was started by Dr. William Cherniak, whose roots in emergency care and medicine were then planted in working through a non-profit he created 10 years ago called Bridge to Health Medical and Dental.
This organization primarily helped people in sub-Saharan East Africa get access to health care technologies that would otherwise not be accessible in the region.
Dr. Cherniak got some good press back home in Canada for this endeavour and says it pushed him further into the technology sector within health care.
This is when Rocket Doctor was born.
Rocket Doctor’s beginnings
“Working as an emergency doctor, just seeing a ton of patients who have patient primary care issues who would come into the hospital—pretty similar to what we are seeing today—thinking, what if we could pair advanced diagnostics and virtual care, we could give people access to health care at home,” Dr. Cherniak told Victoria Buzz.
This was taking place back in fall of 2019, and in many provinces such as BC, it has only become more difficult to see a doctor since that time, despite government efforts to improve access.
Through the pandemic, many provinces released funding for virtual care providers.
Several provinces even allow virtual care providers to bill through the provincial health care rather than putting the onus on the patient to foot the bill for their own care.
With these systems set in place, Dr. Cherniak launched Rocket Doctor as a platform where patients can be connected with physicians within their province for any medical issues they may be dealing with.
Then, the patients will have the ability to make a follow up appointment with the same doctor to ensure that their care is consistent and thorough.
How it works
Dr. Cherniak says that of the nearly 300 doctors who use the platform, most are like him and work either in emergency rooms, urgent and primary care centres or in their own practices.
They are not employed by Rocket Doctor, nor are they beholden to take on a quota of patients through the platform.
Physicians who use Rocket Doctor simply sign up, are able to choose their own hours and can take on as many patients as they choose.
“The model from the beginning has been, how do we empower physicians to create independent practices within the public system,” Dr. Cherniak explained.
“So, we are more like a ‘Shopify’ for doctors.”
Physicians are able to tell Rocket Doctor what kind of patients they want to see virtually and likewise, patients will tell them what kind of doctor they need—then the two are matched together.
The physicians on Rocket Doctor can do all the same things as a doctor one would see in an urgent and primary care centre. They can order blood work, X-rays and other tests as well as offer referrals to specialists and write prescriptions.
“Some doctors will take on hundreds or thousands of doctors and follow up with them on an ongoing basis,” Dr. Cherniak said.
According to Dr. Cherniak, some even offer to become a family doctor for the patients they take online.
Furthermore, all Rocket Doctor physicians share their notes on a patient with one another. So, if you see one doctor regularly through the platform, but something like a fever comes out of nowhere and you see a different Rocket Doctor physician for that issue, your regular doctor will also have access to all those files.
“I don’t think any other company has our same model where our doctors are really independent,” Dr. Cherniak told Victoria Buzz.
Rocket Doctor operates in Ontario, Alberta and BC, and around half of all the patients that the platform provides care for are in rural communities where it is even harder to see a doctor than it is in a city such as Victoria.
For many, getting connected with a family doctor in BC and some other provinces seems next to impossible, with going to the emergency room for several hours as the only tangible alternative.
Rocket Doctor and other similar services are providing some solace to those needing help with ongoing health issues who are unable to get a family doctor and those who have distressing issues come up out of nowhere.
To get connected with a physician through Rocket Doctor in BC, one simply needs to request an appointment on their website and add themselves to a waitlist.
From there an operational staff member will call and assess what the patient’s needs are and connect them with a doctor who is available and best suited to help with that issue.
“On some days that waitlist moves very quickly,” Dr. Cherniak said.
He added that often people will get a call right away for an appointment, but some days if there is a longer than normal queue and not as many doctors available, it could be a couple days before an individual gets an appointment.
This service is entirely free for patients needing medical care. Rocket Doctor makes their money to stay afloat by charging the physicians who use its services a small portion of their provincial health care authority’s pay.
In BC, mental health care and psychology appointments are also available, but will cost patients because the provincial health care does not pay for these services.
Once an appointment takes place, the patient is sent a survey to assess the doctor and the platform’s effectiveness.
Dr. Cherniak says if he is ever having a bad day, he will look at the feedback they get from patients to lift his spirits.
In BC, the service has a 4.7 rating out of five stars, and for the most part, Dr. Cherniak says people are truly grateful for having some way to access health care.
