Tech industry creates a new healthcare reality

Silicon Valley is reimagining the healthcare experience, starting with a visit to the doctor’s office.

Healthcare startup Forward is being heralded as the future of healthcare, one that looks an awful lot like an Apple Store with its floor-to-ceiling windows, brightly-lit rooms, slate floors and minimalist counter display of wearable devices.

“Imagine a doctor’s office that feels more like an Apple Store,” says Forward CEO Adrian Aoun to Forbes. “An Apple Store that learns so it gets better with more data.” Aoun, 33, is an experienced entrepreneur and former Alphabet executive. For this latest venture, he’s recruited staff from Google and Uber and backed by technology and venture capital veterans.

Forward is part of a larger tech and healthcare movement of startups and established players who are trying new approaches and employing technology to improve care and reduce cost.

Aoun says the goal of the sleek enterprise is to change the model of primary healthcare from “once-and-done” to a long-term effort between patient and the provider that emphasizes prevention and wellness. “Healthcare is not a repair shop but an ongoing relationship. We want proactive preventive healthcare that is data driven but do it at lower prices.”

Forward is a subscription-based model that uses genetic testing and passive data to create a personalized treatment plan for long-term wellness. Access to the primary care practice is $149 a month. Members have unlimited access primary care, including doctor’s visits, baseline screening, ongoing monitoring, email access to the clinicians and some medications and supplements. Forward does not bill insurance, so there are no co-pays or unexpected bills. Members still need to buy insurance to cover other medical expenses and possible hospitalizations, surgeries and specialist care.

Forward opened its doors last week in downtown San Francisco. 

Nicole Stempak

Nicole was Senior Editor at I Advance Senior Care and Long Term Living Magazine 2015-2017. She has a Journalism degree from Kent State University and is finalizing a master’s degree in Information Architecture and Management. She has extensive studies in the digital user experience and in branding online media. She has worked as an editor and writer for various B2B publications, including Business Finance.