As an emergency medicine physician, Angela Fusaro is used to chaos. But it was the people coming in for simple diagnostic tests that gave her the idea for company.
“Who wants to sit in a germ-infested emergency department for something simple like peeing on a piece of paper or a throat swab?” said Fusaro, co-founder and CEO of Physician 360.
Physician 360, which launched its platform 2018, is a health tech startup that offers telemedicine consultations and provides at-home diagnostic tests, such as for strep or a urinary tract infection, to prevent people from having to visit a doctor for tests they could conduct themselves.
With Physician 360, people meet virtually with a medical professional, get the recommended diagnostic test, then pick it up at a local pharmacy or have it shipped to them. Once the test is completed, the physician can prescribe the patient medication.
The startup wants to “connect all of the dots for patients,” Fusaro said, so they have both the expertise and resources to get medical care through the Physician 360 platform.
That idea became even more necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic as people became more wary to step into a health center.
Physician 360 expanded its products to include an at-home COVID-19 saliva test, which allows symptomatic people to get tested without worrying about spreading the virus to others around them.
Fusaro said she's partnered with Atlanta-based Quorum X Diagnostics to develop an at-home rapid test that can be distributed on the platform as well.
“We were well positioned as far as being experts and having the infrastructure to test and treat for time-sensitive conditions,” Fusaro said. “When the pandemic hit, we had a great opportunity to play a meaningful role.”
Physician 360 is an ATDC signature company and participated in Venture Atlanta this year. It raised $400,000 in seed funding in 2019 from Atlanta-based Valor Ventures, according to Crunchbase. Valor Ventures says the startup has a strong acquisitions market, either from major pharmaceutical companies or commercial testing laboratories.
Fusaro said investors in tech hubs such as Boston and Silicon Valley have reached out to her, which she credits in part to Atlanta’s growing footprint in the startup community.
Physician 360 also has a Dallas office where Rob Lapporte, co-founder and chief medical officer, is based.
The startup provides tests and medical treatments by partnering with local pharmacies and now has a network in almost 1,000 different ZIP codes across the country. Fusaro said that network covers about 6% of the U.S. population. Those pharmacies provide the Physician 360 test kits and medications for patients using the platform.
“Our goal obviously is to continue to add and add pharmacies until the point where we are the most robust safety net of care centers that exist,” Fusaro said.
Pharmacy Development Services, a membership-based network of independent pharmacies, started recommending Physician 360 to its members in September 2019.
Elaine Ladd, the chief innovations officer of PDS, said the startup allows mom-and-pop pharmacies to expand care of their customers.
“It gives pharmacies the ability to compete with these urgent-care alternatives and allows patients to continue to see their trusted pharmacists instead of going to the minute clinic,” Ladd said.
The startup charges about $50 for the consultation and test kits. Fusaro said she hopes to partner with health insurance companies in the future so those companies can steer their clients to Physician 360 as a cheaper solution for these specific health problems than going into an urgent care.
Physician 360 plans to keep expanding its services as new at-home diagnostic tests or needs arise, Fusaro said.
“We built a connection platform where we can plug in as different devices, different testing styles or different pandemics arise,” Fusaro said. “We can plug in each of those things into this platform and still serve the patient.”
