Rey Colón and his fast-growth company are offering even more virtual medical solutions since COVID swept the globe. The aptly named MyTelemedicine is riding the wave of the future, as the pandemic speeds the shift to virtual healthcare.
STARTUP
Telemed Connector
Rey Colón
“Covid has really propelled telehealth across multiple verticals,” says Colón, who is CEO of the startup he founded in 2015. Its virtual health technology platform now powers its flagship brand Access a Doctor, as well as Zeally Health and the just-launched GoLexi pet telehealth service.
The My Telemedicine platform gives people around the world access to immediate healthcare with round-the-clock access to doctors with its on-demand mobile solution, Colón says.
The system has more than 3 million members nationwide, completing more than 250,000 virtual consultations to date. As it sees more adoption, it plans additional functions that will allow consumers to manage chronic illnesses virtually, the founder told Dallas Innovates.
“The scalability of our platform is a consistent upward trend,” Colón says.
My Telemedicine launches telehealth for pets
The company’s latest offering, the GoLexi Pet Telehealth service, offers real-time veterinary consultations to pet parents by phone or video call—day or night. “When we recognized the need in the veterinary space, I knew our team could create a solution for four-legged members of the family, as well,” he says.
Last year, the startup launched Zeally, a digital platform that lets healthcare providers visit with patients in a HIPAA/HITECH-compliant environment via video or phone. The software as a service can be licensed to an individual provider, practice, physician group, or hospital.
Startup expands with McKinney EDC Innovation Fund Grant
The company also expanded with a move to its new McKinney headquarters, thanks to an innovation fund grant from the city’s EDC. The startup plans to add 40 new high-tech and executive jobs over the next three years, nearly tripling their current staffing.
Next up? Leveraging the latest in AI technology with a potential rebrand in the works, Colón hints.
Meet the founder
Rey Colón was featured in Dallas Innovates’ Future 50 in Dallas-Fort Worth in the 2021 edition of our annual magazine. We talk with the MyTelemedicine founder about innovation, the impact of COVID-19, and plans for the future. Here’s a takeaway:
On the biggest innovation at MyTelemedicine in 2020:
Our biggest development was a decision made one week after our first lockdown due to COVID-19. We created Zeally Health, a subsidiary of MyTelemedicine. Zeally Health(zeal.ly) is a Virtual telehealth Software platform that allows individual providers, private practices, and hospitals to deploy a telehealth offering to their own patient/member base. This system presently services over three million members and has completed over 250,000 virtual consultations to date. Of course, as we start to see more adoption we are adding additional functions that will allow consumers to manage chronic illnesses virtually.
On how it changes the future:
Most important in how it changes the future is by allowing consumers around the world to utilize a secure mobile solution that provides them with round-the-clock access to doctors on-demand for immediate healthcare. As this technology continues to get adopted, there are Bluetooth-enabled peripheral devices such as HealthKit for Apple that can easily be integrated allowing consumers to be more conscious about their health because they have the data at their fingertips.
On responding to the challenges of COVID-19 and social injustice:
Immediately following the announcement of COVID-19 lockdowns, MyTelemedicine deployed a COVID-19 self-assessment tool that allowed consumers who were concerned about exposure to go through a series of questions to determine their exposure rate and connect them to a physician immediately. In addition, we integrated with several at-home testing solutions to offer to our members. From a social injustice perspective, I am proud to be a Hispanic business owner, and it shows with our diverse culture we have here at MTM. We also have a $15/hr minimum policy for all employees.
On resilience:
Life is always about some level of resilience. We promote a culture of innovation of serving with HEART (love), and this allows us to work together as a team to come with innovative solutions in our market that differentiate us from competitors in this fast-growing market.
On 2021:
This is very exciting for us as we have a major move in place, however, we are keeping this under the hood for now. Let’s just say 2021 holds some exciting opportunities in the virtual health space, and we’re excited to show our technology capabilities leveraging the latest in AI technology with potentially a rebrand in the works.
A version of this story was originally published in Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue.
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