Los Angeles, California-based Heal, which provides has added two big names to its board: Former Florida governor and presidential hopeful Jeb Bush and Paul Jacobs, the former CEO and chairman of semiconductor giant Qualcomm.
Heal, which was founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife team of Nick Desai and Renee Dua, has raised more than $70 million from investors for its on-demand physician house call network. The company is active in California, Washington, D.C., Virginia and recently launched in Atlanta through a partnership with Aetna.
Jacobs, who left Qualcomm last year amidst a hostile takeover attempt by Broadcom, later started a startup called XCOM dedicated to investing in and developing 5G technology.
“Heal has re-invented the business process of medicine, attracted top doctors, and built mutually beneficial partnerships with virtually every major insurance provider in America,” Jacobs said in a statement.
“But I’m most excited to work with Dr. Renee Dua and Nick Desai, whom I’ve known for over 20 years, to enable deeper, more personal interactions between doctors and patients, and to transform healthcare by using technology to bring back the human touch.”
The telecom veteran will join Heal’s board as its chairman and has already helped the company develop its Wellbe connected device, which is able to automatically send health diagnostics and vital signs to Heal physicians.
“Technology is the catalyst that eliminates stifling bureaucracy and enables timelier, more personal, more proactive care that lowers costs and improves outcomes,” said Dr. Renee Dua, co-founder and chief medical officer at Heal. “Dr. Jacobs has led the global mobile revolution over the last two decades, and we’re thrilled to have him lead our efforts to reboot the broken $4 trillion U.S. healthcare industry.”
Bush served as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007 and led efforts to reform Medicaid in the state.
“Heal liberates doctors from offices and patients from the trappings of a broken and bureaucratic system,” Bush said in a statement. “Innovative entrepreneurs like Nick and Renee are transforming America’s healthcare system by harnessing technology to improve access to first-rate doctors, and I’m excited to partner with them.”
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