Question

Relay Health is a company that has operated in the health care environment for several years. This organization has developed a platform whereby patients are able to communicate with their doctors online for consultations (www.relayhealth.com). The adoption of this service has been slowly growing for many years but has not received widespread acceptance in the marketplace by physician groups, although there are many benefits that can be discerned from the platform for patients or employers who might have employees who have doctors who are on such a platform. And, insurers such as Blue Cross and Cigna have also begun to accept that online visits are acceptable and are moving increasingly to reimbursing this approach. In spite of this growing trend, less than 3% of the family physicians in the American Academy of Family Practice report doing e-visits.

Recently, a company called Sophrona Solutions (https://sophrona.com/) has developed a platform that initially was for ophthalmology practices. One of the larger developers is American Well (https://amwell.com/cm/?test=true&gclid=CI7Zw4Xdp8oCFUUTHwodqssEhw), the producer of online care. They have announced that they are expanding their online portal nationally.

The CEO of Relay Health has called you in as a consultant to analyze this rapidly changing market.

There are several growth strategy alternatives available. Explain each alternative and then consider/apply each alternative for Relay Health. Which one did American Well employ? Which alternatives might be available to Relay Health? How might they be implemented?

Answer 1

The growth strategy for Relay Health

The presence of telehealth services was there for many years in the past but situations have drastically changed in recent years because of change in connectivity, smartphone usage, video calling connectivity and usage of applications for all types of work. Also, the need for medical services has is also much more because of deteriorating health of all people as well as younger generation. With busy schedules and less time for going to clinics and hospitals, it is the best time to use online health services for diagnosis of problems and to get the right treatment.

There are many alternatives for Relay Health can implement to enhance their presence

1. Focus on Influencer and Digital Marketing: To increase the branding of the services, Relay should focus on increasing presence on digital platforms. They should use influencers in the medical domain to reach out to the people that online medical services can be as effective as offline medical service. They need to communicate the benefits of telehealth services and the testimonials of the users are necessary to show how the people have already benefited from them

2.Collaboration with trusted medical practitioners and brands: Relay must build the relationship with trusted medical brands available to gain the trust of the audience like American well clearly shows on their website which is not present on the website of Relay health and trust is everything in healthcare. They need to get more experienced doctors team on their board and showcase them on websites because its the personal branding that drives the branding of the company and it will surely help to raise faith among consumers for Relay healthcare

3. Enhancement of Technology: Technology is a must factor for every company nowadays because it reduced human faults, decreases time and also people love to use new technology. They need to develop mobile applications which can be easily used by every age group person. We have seen a huge growth in the usage of mobile-based applications for connectivity and working in the recent past and it's going increase even more in the future. This enhancement will help the company to build a strong relationship with the customers

4. Customer Loyalty: Even after so many years of new marketing techniques from billboards to digital marketing, but word of mouth is still the best way to acquire new customers at no additional cost. Relay health must focus on building a strong bond between their existing customers and give them additional health checkup services with membership loyalty programs. This will make their customers their brand advocates and will boast about the facilities of online medical help. The touch points of consumers with the company must be improved to build a human touch which sometimes even lack in the offline medical treatment.

These alternatives will surely enhance the branding of the company and will take the company to a new projectile of growth. Americal well has implemented second and third alternative very well and relay health can easily implement first third and fourth alternative. If they are facing issues while implementing new technologies, they can outsource the technology part. Use CRM methodology and software to build better bonds with consumers and take help of digital marketing companies or freelancers. It is not very costly process and easy to implement and when these alternatives get success, it's easy to get more experienced doctors and trusted brands on board as well