Mend VIP Inc.’s decision in 2016 to pivot from on-demand doctor house calls to focus solely on software is paying off.
The Orlando-based telehealth company last year witnessed a 2,500% increase in telehealth visits, and the company’s staff more than tripled from roughly 25 employees before March 2020 to 90. The company projects sustained growth as telehealth usage takes off, especially in the behavioral health sector where Mend is most focused.
“We want to continue to grow the company fast,” co-founder and CEO Matt McBride told Orlando Inno. “We want to have thousands of employees. Maybe that ends up being hundreds [in Orlando].”
Groceries, Uber and health care
Mend’s four founders started the company in 2015, driven by the digital transformation they saw changing other industries. They wanted to bring that same approach to health care, McBride said. “We can push a button and get groceries delivered or have a car show up. But in health care, we're still very much paper, fax and phone calls.”
When it launched, Mend offered a software solution, operated a clinic and worked with physicians to provide on-demand home visits. The company shifted five years ago, exclusively offering software for health care providers. Mend’s product enables patient scheduling, digital intake forms, telehealth visits and more.
Two years ago, it was common for Mend’s customers to want one feature the platform offers, such as telehealth, co-founder and President Brandon Worley said. However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced many health care providers to instead seek a host of digital health services. “That is an area where we've really separated ourselves because currently there is no other competitor that can create the customized workflows and solve the problems that Mend can.”
Behavioral health focus
Mend, which operates in all 50 U.S. states, is on track to facilitate five million telehealth visits this year, McBride said. Mend is not the only place witnessing a rise in telehealth visits. Telehealth use spiked in spring 2020, and it since has stabilized at levels 38 times higher than before the pandemic, according to a July report from consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
This growth is good news for Central Florida, as Mend’s expansion creates local jobs. The firm’s workforce is dispersed across the U.S., but McBride said Mend is looking for local hires. “A significant percentage of those [new hires] would be in Orlando.”
Most of Mend’s customers are in the behavioral health sector, and the company expects digital transformation to be the most profound in that health care space, McBride said. Indeed, the adoption of telehealth by the Mental Health Association of Central Florida due to the pandemic has been “very successful,” CEO Marni Stahlman previously told Orlando Inno. While Stahlman initially was skeptical of telehealth in behavioral health, she has seen how it makes these health services more accessible for patients, she said. “The No. 1 barrier to access to treatment is transportation.”
The Covid-19 virus still lingers, but Worley said his conversations with providers indicate the popularity of digital health will outlast the pandemic. “The overwhelming theme, whether it's small provider groups all the way up to large health systems, is they know virtual care is here to stay.”
Sign up here for The Beat, Orlando Inno’s free newsletter. And be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
