Nursing You Back To Health: Nurse-1–1’s Triage Model Reduces Unnecessary ER Visits and Provides Peace of Mind
What is Nurse-1–1? Nurse-1–1 is a digital platform for patients searching online for information about their health concerns. The platform has a network of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants that interact with patients in the initial stages of their healthcare encounter Through personalized, live, text based nurse chats, patients can receive trusted health information so they can make better decisions and triage their concerns. Nurse recommendations are provided by a curated list of in-person clinics and digital health solutions pre-approved by Nurse-1–1.
The Team: The Nurse-1–1 team consists of CEO Michael Sheeley, a serial entrepreneur and experienced CEO in addition to a chief medical officer and chief nurse practitioner. The team also includes rich technical expertise with a chief technology officer in addition to head of mobile. The founding story
revolves around Michael’s personal experience as the father of a child with a congenital heart issue that often needed to rely on a good friend that is a pediatric cardiology nurse. Founders with this type of personal connection to the service they are building are often uniquely positioned to lead companies to success. The team currently operates out of Harvard’s launch lab accelerator, giving them strong credibility in addition to access to a cohort of
operators and funders in the Harvard community.
Value Proposition: Nurse-1–1 has a compelling value proposition despite its position in the saturated telemedicine space. Following the wave of mental health startups like Talkspace, Nurse-1–1 provides a secure and convenient way for patients to discreetly text their concerns to a medical professional as opposed to needing to leave their desk or set aside time for a videocall. Additionally, Nurse-1–1 can help patients avoid costly medical behavior such as visiting the emergency room or urgent care facilities for minor issues that can be treated via OTC medications. Nurse-1–1 has multiple selling channels that they use for their network of over 500 Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants in all 50 states. They sell to health plans, employers, community health centers, universities, and patients — and they offer providers the ability to work with them.
They have different value propositions for each group based on the
segment’s needs and their willingness to pay for certain benefits. For the individual patient, they provide peace of mind by triaging their concerns, reviewing photos, and providing guidance on local clinics. They quote that they can help save 90% of a patient’s cost for an unnecessary medical visit. I find their pitch to community health centers to be particularly interesting given my background working at a non-profit family health service that primarily worked with vulnerable populations. The agency was open during the week but the clients they supported were often left without support during the weekend and were typically not insured and predisposed to engage in costly medical behavior.
The Platform for Nurses: In a presentation with founder Michael Sheeley, he mentioned that they have strong inbound nurse interest in supporting the service. In certain areas, nurses struggle to get the requisite hours they need at clinics to support themselves. They see Nurse-1–1 as a way to supplement their income while caring for patients from their home.
