Four weeks after Google announced HealthTap as the first health app for Android Wear, the medical app company is releasing a new premium service, HealthTap Prime. The Prime service lets you video chat with a doctor from your mobile device and sends reminders to your Android Wear smartwatch. However, healthcare isn’t cheap and neither is the subscription-based app. Subscriptions for HealthTap Prime start at $100 per month and increase $10/month for every additional family member on the plan.
HealthTap Prime provides access to all of the free services provided in the baseline app, including access to the expansive list of doctor’s responses to common health questions. The app, which is used mostly by pregnant women and people suffering from anxiety and stress issues, also offers general health tips based on your self-provided health interests and concerns. Now, it also lets you talk to a doctor wherever you are.
The premium service will deliver medical consultation all via mobile and wearable devices with iOS, Android, or Android Wear onboard. The app also puts you in direct contact with doctors who can chat with you via HD video and live audio. Unlike other medical apps, HealthTap’s doctors can talk with patients and then prescribe medication all without actually seeing the patient in the real world. The prescription will be sent to your nearest pharmacy or even, in some cases, to the patient’s front door.
What’s more, the medical app can send reminders and checklists to patients. The notifications will appear on your Android device or iPhone, and as “note cards” on your wearable. The reminders come in handy, for instance, when you forget to take your medication or preform a certain rehab exercise. The reminders also allow patients to respond to doctors’ reminders with a simple “yes” or “no.”
“Imagine a world where people everywhere have instant ubiquitous access to the best doctors, who genuinely care about them and want them to feel good every day,” Ron Gutman, HealthTap’s CEO and founder, said in a release. “We can all greatly benefit from having immediate access to trusted doctors, which can have saved time, money, and potentially a life!”
The app does seem to make healthcare more convenient and could showcase Android Wear’s capabilities as a unified OS. However, it’s worth mentioning the eyebrow raising disclaimer on the bottom of every page on HealthTap’s website, “HealthTap does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.” The statement should raise eyebrows for anyone who’s looking to depend on the app for medical care. It’s, without a doubt, an alarming and contradictory statement.
