HEALTH CARE IN YOUR PYJAMAS

Almost 70 per cent of Canadians avoid seeing a doctor when they’re sick because the line is too long, the hours too short or the distance too great, a recent Ipsos survey found.

That doesn’t sit well with Brett Belchetz, an emergency room physician who has a front-row seat to the problems of handson health care. Only half of his patients actually require a physical exam for him to make a proper diagnosis and provide treatment. Yet they come, and wait hours to see him.

It’s this frustration that has Belchetz now alternating between his weekend scrubs and a weekday desk job. He’s CEO of Maple (getmaple.ca), a 24/7 online pay-per-use platform connecting patients to licensed physicians in minutes. For $49 per call (or $359 for unlimited annual use), patients in Ontario can log in to Maple’s secure web portal and instantly access a pool of doctors who diagnose illnesses, provide sick notes and prescribe medication. Consultation is by instant message, voice or live two-way video. The first doctor to pick up the request takes the case and earns the fee. Maple takes a small cut of the action.

Belchetz co-founded the Toronto-based company with his friends, CTO Stuart Starr and COO Roxana Zaman. They hired developers, built the platform and secured startup money from a private corporation and physician investors, the latter especially important to ensure “the owners have the right motivations for good care,” says Belchetz. The service will launch across Canada by the end of the year. An app is in the works.

“Fifty-three per cent of workplace absences to see a doctor can be avoided with a telemedicine solution,” says Belchetz.