CASE STUDY

ON

AMERICAN WELL: THE DOCTOR WILL E-SEE YOU NOW

SUBMITTED BY:
SANDAL KAKKAR
SANTHANAM BALAJI
SATYANAND
SAURABH YADAV
SHIVAM GOYAL
SREEKANTH SREENIVASAN
SRIRAM V
GROUP-6
PGP UAE 2013-2015 BATCH

SUBMITTED TO:
ADITYA BILLORE

FOR
MARKETING-1

CASE BACKGROUND
Need Analysis:
Current System
The current healthcare system has the following anomalies:
1. Patients have to wait in long queues for appointments with the doctors. In case of
emergency they have to wait in the hospital emergency wards.
2. Consulting specialists is even more difficult as they have to again wait for long before they
get an appointment with the doctor.
3. Cost of personal consultation is high - roughly around $81 per hour. Social stigma associated
with certain diseases such as depression as a result of which the patient does not want to
meet the doctor in person.
4. Management of records is an issue.
5. Employed Patients has to miss work in order to attend doctors appointments.
Business Potential
1. US Health care Industry is worth around $2.5 Trillion out of which 53% of health spending
was funded by Private Funders in 2009 and estimated to grow to $4.3 Trillion by 2018 or
$13,100 per resident.
2. As per a survey in 2006, revealing the Supply-Demand gap, 74% of the people are willing to
communicate with the doctors using e-mails, while only 4% are actually doing so.
3. Physicians communicating with patients online increased from 23% to 36% in 2001-2008.

American Well:
About the company:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Founded by Ido & Roy Schoenberg in 2006

Implemented their first core product Online Care in Hawaii.
Works on the basis of a brokerage model
Target customer Health Insurance companies

Business Model:
1. Works with Health Insurers who have a large database of PCPs and specialists, Patients.
2. Connects the PCPs and patients through an online platform in a 1-1 manner.
3. Now they are looking to improve the product by amending into the Team edition which will
allow seamless transition between PCPs and specialists for the patients.
Competitive Analysis:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Name
RelayHealth
Medfusion
Teladoc
Cisco TelePresence

USP
For Non-Urgent issues and response later
Complete website based consulting system including payments
Works on a call-center system. Also has a website
Comprehensive e-services complemented by use of patients
own medical equipment

PROBLEMS IDENTIFICATION
1. The dilemma is to either to carry on with the existing product Online Care or to rollout their
new product Team Edition as the flagship project.
2. The American Well is looking for expansion across different states setup of United States and
in the International Market without undermining the American Wells opportunity to
become the definitive leader in Online Care.
3. Resource Potential problems such as establishing a robust network with the Specialists, PCPs,
NPs and other key players and maintaining a healthy relationship with them.

SWOT Analysis:
Strength:
1. Switching between PCP and Specialist and
vice versa is seamless.
2. Cost benefits among all the key players of
the health care system.
3. Time saving by distributing the patient
traffic, with increased effectiveness in
diagnosis and follow up.
4. Improvement in quality of care
5. Alleviates fear of social stigma
6. Medical licensing issues resolved
7. Effective access to Electronic health
records of patients
Opportunity:
1. Online care Kiosks in hospitals
2. Online kiosks in retail clinics
3. Tapping into the pharmacy sector
4. International Expansion

Weakness:
1. Uncertainty concerning the right time
of rolling out the product, Team
edition.
2. Pushing multiple services in one sales
pitch would be confusing for some
Health Insurance Companies
3. Delay in adoption of the core product.

Threat:
1. Physicians complaining of increased
workload
2. Hackers could compromise privacy

RECOMMENDATIONS
American Well shall continue with the roll out of their already successful product Online Care in the
potential markets of Boston, Los Angeles and Washington DC. In this manner, the organisation will
have enough customer base for a better feedback to customise the services and upgrade their
Services in the form of Team Edition. Since the business model is a Business-to-Business one,
therefore the relationship between the Insurance Companies and American Well is of essence. Avoid
entering the diverse market with existing concept which would result in Cannibalisation of current
business opportunities.