OnCall Health raises $2 million to spur virtual visits

TORONTO – OnCall Health, a virtual care technology and services platform for healthcare providers, has a raised $2 million in a seed round that will be used to increase its operations across North America.

OnCall’s telemedicine technology enables video or text-based consultations for healthcare, and aims to streamline a set of medical procedures to safeguard patient privacy. OnCall’s encryption allows practitioners like doctors, nurses, or counsellors to improve access to services. The company operates in Canada and the United States.

“Patients are demanding a more convenient way to interact with their trusted healthcare providers using personal devices, as the majority of healthcare appointments are replaceable with online consultations,” said Nicholas Chepesiuk (pictured), CEO and founder of OnCall Health. “Healthcare providers often lack the security, technology and technical support to integrate virtual care into their practice. That is the problem OnCall is focused on solving.”

According to a study by CanHealth, 4.5 million Canadian residents don’t have family doctors, and those who do, cannot always get appointments. Founded in 2016 and based in Toronto, OnCall provides security, support, analytics, and white label branding to more than 300 healthcare organizations.

The company assists with over 10,000 healthcare video appointments per month and works with Employee Assistance Programs, hospitals, disability management firms, medical cannabis clinics, and mental health and addictions treatment centres.

Some of the company’s clients include GrowWise Health, Calgary West Central Primary Care Network, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Wellpoint Health, which provides organizations with integrated absence management and occupational health solutions and services, also uses OnCall.

“At Wellpoint, we are using OnCall to provide our clients with new and advanced methods of health service delivery in industries and areas that have typically been averse to virtual health solutions,” said Rudy Mancini, vice president of strategy and innovation at Wellpoint Health. “Through implementing OnCall, Wellpoint has seen an increase in revenue, utilization and engagement.”

OnCall’s web and mobile platform is aimed to help healthcare systems control the operating cost of physical clinics and hardware installations, while enabling clinics to develop revenue-generating virtual health programs.

The seed round was led by Ripple Ventures, and included participation from Stout Street Capital, Panache Ventures, and Maple Leaf Angels. OnCall was one of Ripple Ventures’ initial investments as part of its first fund, which launched in September with a $10 million close.

“We believe that virtual care technology will soon be as common as electronic medical records in the healthcare provider’s toolkit,” Chepesiuk stated.