15
de Juliol
de
2016
Act.
21
de Desembre
de
2016
"Instead of an American-style model, of accumulating lots of money, creating lots of benefits and pushing, we came up with a Catalan model, in layers." This summary of Doctoralia's evolution comes from one of its three founders, Frederic Llordachs, who is also in charge of developing the company's global business. Created in 2007 with the aim of offering "a directory to make it easier to find doctors online," Doctoralia has gone on to add services to a platform present in 20 countries, with 130 million users and 125,000 registered professionals. With just under 50 employees, Doctoralia ended 2015 with a turnover of three million euros. Now it is merging with the Polish DocPlanner to make a bid to become a world leader in the sector.
"They started in 2011 and from the beginning we have been talking," admits Llordachs. "Every year we said we should merge, but kept putting it off." Now in 2016, when large international operators with a lot of access to capital are emerging, Llordachs says that "either we had to go looking for money in the market or look for partners. It sounds like a joke about how Catalans and Poles are similar, but that is how things have worked out." The fact of sharing a "quiet" culture and having progressed at the same pace has favoured the agreement. "It was a really good opportunity to become a serious global operator that could compete toe-to-toe in the more potent world marketplace of patients and doctors," he says.
The first medical directory
Llordachs and Albert Armengol, the company CEO, were two doctors with management experience who united forces with David Diaz. "David had a website programming company and together we created the directory," Llordachs recalls. That was 2007, "the year that was revolutionary for the consumption of internet technology; it was the year the iPhone came out and internet was with us 24 hours a day." When the directory began to gain ground in Spain, the three partners knew what they had to do: "if it worked here, it would probably also do so in other places. So we went on to set up directories in the 20 countries where we have a presence."
Turning themselves into the "the Yellow Pages" of private medicine online was only the first step for Doctoralia. "In 2010, we gave users the chance to evaluate the service, tripadvisoring the sector," says Llordachs. "We got a good response, both from the users, who followed us as a reference point, and from health professionals, who did not take to us badly," says the Doctoralia cofounder.
The online appointment
The next step in the platform's evolution was to launch the possibility of asking for an online appointment, which has become "one of Doctoralia's main assets," according to Llordachs. It was a service that came out of their experience. "To set up a directory in Spain we made 14,000 calls, a quarter of which got no response," said Llordachs.
Thus, he insists, "the sector was losing a pile of calls from patients who were frustrated in trying to see a doctor, when this was the traditional way to get appointments in the private health sector."
Fighting against Dr. Google
Then in 2014, Doctoralia took another step by taking advantage of a reality: some 40% of people go to the internet before going to the doctor and 60% do so afterwards. "That means that after seeing a doctor they still have more doubts than before they go. You have a very limited time in the surgery and depending on what you are told, you can end up a little bewildered," says Llordachs. That is why after seeing the doctor it is normal that "you have questions on specific subjects that affect you: a medication, whether you can drink alcohol, combining exercise, etc".
As it is hard to get the doctor on the phone, Doctoralia tried to simplify the process by giving registered health professionals the chance to answer anonymous questions. Thus, each doctor adds to his or her profile the answers they have given about their speciality.
"That way the doctor too has a more defined profile: you know where you are, which tools they work with, their timetable, you can ask for an online appointment, you can see opinions of other patients, and you can learn how they express themselves from the responses they have given to patients in an anonymous way," says Llordachs. In all, he insists, "you can find the doctor that best meets your expectations."
The advantages for health professionals
"In a country in which 80% of people are connected to the internet through their mobiles, if you are a doctor who lives from a private practice, you have to put yourself out there," insists the Doctoralia cofounder. As with all groups, there are those who are more enthusiastic than others, but Llordachs makes it clear that "we are not Uber for doctors". In fact, he says that "it has taken a lot of work to create a culture and to make this group understand the importance of being online."
In listing the advantages that health professionals can find on the platform, Llordachs insists that "being involved is visibility and costs the doctor nothing. It is a place where there are lots of patients, and in Spain alone we get some two million users every month." Moreover, if they use the digital services, he insists that "it opens more doors."
The Doctoralia cofounder points out that "the online appointment provides many more options than the telephone; you can more adequately manage the demand for appointments." In fact, a third of the appointments made online through Doctoralia are done outside of working hours: nights, weekends and public holidays. "We try to be a tool to manage your appointments," he says.
For a monthly payment of around 39 euros, all of these private health professionals have the chance to offer online appointments and put out more information about themselves. "It saves them having to have a website. We are a friend to small practices," says Llordachs. Large health centres have marketing and media, but for "small and medium-sized outfits we a great promotional and management tool on the internet," he says.
"They started in 2011 and from the beginning we have been talking," admits Llordachs. "Every year we said we should merge, but kept putting it off." Now in 2016, when large international operators with a lot of access to capital are emerging, Llordachs says that "either we had to go looking for money in the market or look for partners. It sounds like a joke about how Catalans and Poles are similar, but that is how things have worked out." The fact of sharing a "quiet" culture and having progressed at the same pace has favoured the agreement. "It was a really good opportunity to become a serious global operator that could compete toe-to-toe in the more potent world marketplace of patients and doctors," he says.
The first medical directory
Llordachs and Albert Armengol, the company CEO, were two doctors with management experience who united forces with David Diaz. "David had a website programming company and together we created the directory," Llordachs recalls. That was 2007, "the year that was revolutionary for the consumption of internet technology; it was the year the iPhone came out and internet was with us 24 hours a day." When the directory began to gain ground in Spain, the three partners knew what they had to do: "if it worked here, it would probably also do so in other places. So we went on to set up directories in the 20 countries where we have a presence."
Turning themselves into the "the Yellow Pages" of private medicine online was only the first step for Doctoralia. "In 2010, we gave users the chance to evaluate the service, tripadvisoring the sector," says Llordachs. "We got a good response, both from the users, who followed us as a reference point, and from health professionals, who did not take to us badly," says the Doctoralia cofounder.
 |
| Photo: Jordi Borràs |
The online appointment
The next step in the platform's evolution was to launch the possibility of asking for an online appointment, which has become "one of Doctoralia's main assets," according to Llordachs. It was a service that came out of their experience. "To set up a directory in Spain we made 14,000 calls, a quarter of which got no response," said Llordachs.
Thus, he insists, "the sector was losing a pile of calls from patients who were frustrated in trying to see a doctor, when this was the traditional way to get appointments in the private health sector."
Fighting against Dr. Google
Then in 2014, Doctoralia took another step by taking advantage of a reality: some 40% of people go to the internet before going to the doctor and 60% do so afterwards. "That means that after seeing a doctor they still have more doubts than before they go. You have a very limited time in the surgery and depending on what you are told, you can end up a little bewildered," says Llordachs. That is why after seeing the doctor it is normal that "you have questions on specific subjects that affect you: a medication, whether you can drink alcohol, combining exercise, etc".
As it is hard to get the doctor on the phone, Doctoralia tried to simplify the process by giving registered health professionals the chance to answer anonymous questions. Thus, each doctor adds to his or her profile the answers they have given about their speciality.
 |
| Photo: Jordi Borràs |
"That way the doctor too has a more defined profile: you know where you are, which tools they work with, their timetable, you can ask for an online appointment, you can see opinions of other patients, and you can learn how they express themselves from the responses they have given to patients in an anonymous way," says Llordachs. In all, he insists, "you can find the doctor that best meets your expectations."
The advantages for health professionals
"In a country in which 80% of people are connected to the internet through their mobiles, if you are a doctor who lives from a private practice, you have to put yourself out there," insists the Doctoralia cofounder. As with all groups, there are those who are more enthusiastic than others, but Llordachs makes it clear that "we are not Uber for doctors". In fact, he says that "it has taken a lot of work to create a culture and to make this group understand the importance of being online."
In listing the advantages that health professionals can find on the platform, Llordachs insists that "being involved is visibility and costs the doctor nothing. It is a place where there are lots of patients, and in Spain alone we get some two million users every month." Moreover, if they use the digital services, he insists that "it opens more doors."
 |
| Photo: Jordi Borràs |
The Doctoralia cofounder points out that "the online appointment provides many more options than the telephone; you can more adequately manage the demand for appointments." In fact, a third of the appointments made online through Doctoralia are done outside of working hours: nights, weekends and public holidays. "We try to be a tool to manage your appointments," he says.
For a monthly payment of around 39 euros, all of these private health professionals have the chance to offer online appointments and put out more information about themselves. "It saves them having to have a website. We are a friend to small practices," says Llordachs. Large health centres have marketing and media, but for "small and medium-sized outfits we a great promotional and management tool on the internet," he says.