The start-up MaQuestionMédicale.com wants to give back the keys to telemedicine to doctors

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"With a few colleagues, we had enough of these 'consultations in the corridor' for a prescription or a quick note. French doctors spend around two hours a day responding to requests requiring no clinical examination and often unpaid, we we wanted to integrate these times into a formal and secure practice, "said Dr. Jean Tafazzoli.

At the end of 2018, the idea of ​​a telemedicine platform "made by doctors, with doctors and for doctors" emerged. In Lyon, Dr Tafazzoli, Xavier Lojacono, doctor of science and engineer and Soufyane Oumri, engineer, co-founded in May 2019 the simplified joint stock company (SAS) MaQuestionMédicale, which will give its name to the telemedicine platform.

"It was necessary to create a space of exchange between the doctor and his patient and the current offer does not meet the needs of doctors." It was from this observation that the idea of ​​MaQuestionMedicale.com was born, "a teleconsultation site focused on the needs of the doctor and his patient".

To use this teleconsultation service, nothing to install or download.

Available on PC or smartphone via the address maquestionmedicale.com, the platform does not have a mobile application because "nobody teleconsults by application," said Dr Tafazzoli.

It is therefore on an interface that aims to be "simple, intuitive and accessible" on phone, tablet and PC that patients and healthcare professionals are invited to register.

"There is a double authentication system for more security and the medical data is not saved. We have eight servers and we have entrusted the hosting of personal health data to OVH and AWS (Amazon)" both certified health data host (HDS), detailed the co-founder of the company.

"We are doctors, we do not need to keep the traces of patient consultations, we do not intend to sell them," he added, stressing the "total independence of MaQuestionMédicale.com, especially vis-à-vis vis mutuals and insurance ".

Almost instant teleconsultations

If it does not keep any trace on its servers, the platform allows patients, in addition to videochat, to leave text messages, documents, images and videos to their doctor.

To teleconsult, the patient must therefore register on the platform and request a telemedicine session with his attending physician, if he is himself registered.

If the attending physician is present on the site, the patient is invited to go to the "virtual waiting room" of MaQuestionMédicale.com from which he can see how many other patients are waiting for a teleconsultation.

"The wait is of the order of a few minutes, if the crowd is too great, a re-addressing of the patient to another free colleague is possible because nothing is ever vital in teleconsultation", explained the co-founder of the young grows.

It is currently developing "a functionality that will allow patients to see – within a day – what are the peak teleconsultation hours and the quieter times".

If his usual treating doctor is not registered, the patient is redirected to a care room and it is another doctor, available at that time and located in his geographical area, who takes the teleconsultation.

"We do not come out of business schools, we are doctors and unlike our competitors, we do not believe in the relevance of 'slots' reserved for teleconsultation for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The patient generally needs to teleconsult during the day and, at the same time, no doctor will stop his consultations in the office to make the teleconsultation scheduled in his agenda, that has no interest, "insisted Dr Tafazzoli.

Already 10,000 teleconsultations 100% reimbursed

On the patient side, no advance costs either, contrary to what several service competitors offer.

"We allow full third-party payment. The patient will be loyal to this system while allowing doctors to be paid up to the cost of their consultations. We are enrolled in the framework of endorsement n ° 6 to the medical agreement relating to telemedicine, "he said.

Endorsement n ° 6, which came into force on September 15, 2018, details the amount of remuneration provided for healthcare professionals and the conditions to be met in order to benefit from a reimbursement under ordinary law of teleconsultation and tele-expertise acts, recalls are we

The text recalls that teleconsultation must be organized "in accordance with the coordinated care pathway" and must go through the attending physician, or, in areas with difficulty accessing care, by local organizations such as homes and healthcare or professional healthcare communities (CPTS) and use the same principles as a traditional consultation, with prices of 25 and 30 euros depending on the case.

Since May 2019, the site has counted 10,000 teleconsultations, "all reimbursed".

Funding by commissions and a foothold in pharmacies

Funded by more than 200 shareholder doctors and "a few pharmacists", the platform has already raised 205,800 euros since its creation.

"To pay us and finance the development of the platform, we take from registered doctors a commission of 3% on each teleconsultation. This represents a few tens of cents but we can already count on more than 700 doctors registered on our site", s is congratulated Dr. Tafazzoli.

MaQuestionMédicale.com also offers the automatic edition of prescriptions, treatment sheets and invoices from mutuals and in the coming weeks, the company should also offer a prescription assistance module to "start working in pharmacies of pharmacy ".

"The idea is to be able to do teleconsultation from pharmacies, which will be equipped with a kit of tools smart health connected by Bluetooth. This kit costs almost 1,500 euros, covered by social security, as part of telemedicine equipment packages (addendum n ° 15) ", detailed the co-founder.

"During a teleconsultation, the patient will be able to use the tools independently (smart health connected stethoscope, smart health connected blood pressure monitoring …) or with the help of pharmacists and this is beneficial for under-dense areas such as for city centers where pharmacists sometimes face clinical questions, "he added.

"As soon as the professional local health communities (CPTS) are able to meet the demand, we will join them too to offer teleconsultation", has already planned Dr Tafazzoli.

The company, which has six employees, also expects to make several recruitments in 2020-2021 to strengthen its commercial, legal and financial divisions.

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