Businesses can deliver everything on demand, fromdinner to dry cleaning. Now, entrepreneurs are exploring a growing niche: heal

文/JanetMorrissey

译/陈韦廷

企业界可依照需求提供从晚餐到干洗等各种随选服务。现在，创业家正在探索一个不断成长的利基点：医疗保健。

Startups are offering access to doctors,prescription drugs and wellness programs as fast and easy as hailing an Uber driver.Experts say this is the early stages of a movement that could disrupt thehealth services industry, which critics have long contended suffers fromsoaring costs and reduced access to care.

透过新创公司取得医生的服务、处方药与保健方案，就像呼叫优步司机一样既快又容易。专家说，一项新运动目前正处于起步阶段，而这项运动可能会使医疗服务业大受震撼。批评者长期以来认为医疗服务业价格不断飙升，提供的服务却在减少。

“Healthcare delivery is so broken that we need to explore new channels — new conduits— and this represents one of them,” said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist andauthor of “The Patient Will See You Now.”

心脏病学家暨《未来医疗》一书作者艾瑞克．托普博士说：「医疗保健服务的提供已失灵到我们需要探索新管道的地步，而这正是其中之一。」

The on-demand economy, which offers consumersimmediate access to goods and services, surged 58 percent in 2017 from theprevious year to an estimated $75.7 billion, according to a study by RockbridgeAssociates, a market research firm.

根据市场研究公司RockbridgeAssociates的调查，让消费者能立刻获得商品与服务的随选经济，2017年规模较前一年成长58%，约达757亿美元。

As the industry swells, dozens of health andwellness companies are tapping the trend.

随着产业蓬勃发展，数十家医疗和保健公司正在利用此一趋势。

Heal, Dispatch Health, Med Zed, Dose Healthcare andPager will send a doctor or a nurse practitioner to a person’s home orworkplace to treat nonemergency problems like strep throat or a sprained ankle.The I.V. Doc offers intravenous treatments for conditions like jet lag,hangovers and food poisoning. And Capsule will deliver prescriptions to aperson’s doorstep.

新创公司Heal、Med Zed、Dispatch Health、Dose Healthcare及Pager会派一名医生或执业护理师到一个人的家里或工作场所，以处理链球菌咽喉炎或脚踝扭伤等不须急救的问题，IVDoc则为时差、宿醉与食物中毒等情况提供静脉注射治疗，而Capsule会将处方药送到你家门口。

Some startups — especially on-demand medicalcompanies, like Heal and Dispatch Health — needed substantial cash to hiredoctors, lease vehicles and bring in administrative staff to handle insuranceclaims.

一些新创公司，尤其像是Heal跟Dispatch Health这样的随选医疗公司，需要大量现金以聘请医生、租赁车辆，并雇用行政人员来处理保险请领。

Cue the investors.

提醒投资人们。

Samir M. Patel, a principal and co-founder of IRACapital, was so impressed with Heal after using it for at-home visits and anannual physical in his office that he became an investor.

萨米．帕特尔是IRA资本公司负责人兼共同创办人，在使用到府服务，并在自己办公室做年度体检后，对Heal医疗公司印象极佳，也因此成了投资人。

But the potential to be the next “unicorn” — astartup valued at $1 billion or more — has created a crowded field.

由于参与者有望成为下一个「独角兽」，也就是市值10亿美元以上的新创公司，这个领域已经颇为拥挤。

The popularity of the I.V. Doc prompted a flurry ofsmaller companies, like IVDrips, Drip Hydration and the Hangover Club/NutriDrip,to offer similar services — sometimes at cheaper prices. To fend off competition,the I.V. Doc recently expanded to offer injectable drugs, like Botox andRestylane, as well as postoperative care for plastic surgery.

IV Doc大受欢迎，促使一些较小的公司如IVDrips，Drip Hydration与Hangover Club或NutriDrip提供类似服务，有时候收费更低。为了摆脱竞争，IV Doc近来扩大服务范围，开始提供注射药物如保妥适肉毒杆菌素与瑞丝朗玻尿酸，以及整形手术的术后照护。