Scan.com, direct access to personal medical imaging services for patients, raises $12M

Anyone in the UK who has tried to make a late NHS medical appointment knows how ordeal it can be, with average waiting times for consultant-led elective care (ie pre-scheduled clinical treatment) currently sitting at around 14.6. Weeks in England. This has led to people turning to the private medical sector, a trend that heralds the start of a two-tier healthcare system where some can afford to pay to get their treatment expedited.

In addition, the floating public health care system has created fertile ground for the growth of health technology startups, addressing everything from labor shortages to improving the technology stack of radiologists.

One such company is Scan.com, a London-based medical imaging startup that connects patients with scan centers, covering MRI, ultrasound, CT and X-ray. The company recently announced that it has raised $12 million in Series A funding to build its US-based startup.

Waiting times

The problem, according to Scan.com, is that even if a patient can make a doctor’s appointment in the first place (a process that is becoming very difficult in itself in the UK), the subsequent referral process is to get an appropriate scan. It may take several months, after which they may have to wait longer to get the results.

Scan.com has partnered with hundreds of scan centers to enable individuals to access medical imaging services with or without a GP referral, with user-friendly reports complete with a click-through graphic within a week.

To use Scan.com’s online referral system, users pay up front to reserve their scan, then book a virtual consultation with a medical professional within 48 hours.

Prices vary depending on location and type of inspection required, but rough ball-park figures run from £180 to £395 or more, and include the consultation, scan and all follow-up reports. .

If a scan detects a serious problem, the patient enters the Scan.com “Urgent Findings Pathway,” where a clinical team contacts the patient and their doctor to explain the results and provide guidance on what to do next.

But being able to bypass the GP (general practitioner) and self-diagnose for medical scans can lead to all sorts of time-wasting efforts – what if a patient doesn’t really need a scan?

Scan.com CEO Charlie Bullock told TechCrunch, “Our clinical team provides consultation and guidance to all patients after booking, which is a core part of our service. “Their time is included in our scan price, which is why we charge for booking. During the consultation, the doctor can adjust the type of scan, add or modify parts of the body, and ensure that the scan is safe and medically justified for the patient’s needs.

Bullock added that if the clinic decides there is no reason for the scan, Scan.com will refund the full cost and give the patient instructions on what to do next. “This happens in about 3% of cases,” Bullock said.

But most patients who are considering a scan are likely to have had some medical evaluation suggest that some scan is needed to find the source of their problem. Looking to bypass the long waiting times that currently plague the NHS.

“Patients may choose to self-refer to imaging for a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons is speed,” Bullock said. “Some patients may have seen a GP, physiotherapist or other healthcare provider, but have reached a bottleneck in their healthcare pathway due to long waiting times. They may know what scan they need, and in many cases they will be told the wait time, and choose to come to us to get the next steps quickly.

Scan.com: Easy References Image credits: Scan.com

In fact, there are a number of situations where you might need a service like the one offered by Scan.com. Some people may have general concerns and may need a preventive exam without making an appointment with a primary care provider, and Scan.com offers full-body MRI scans for such cases.

“Family history or lifestyle factors that may lead to disease can be investigated and diagnosed this way,” Bullock said.

Also, more than 10,000 women under the age of 50 are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, with the country’s national screening program only starting at age 50. Scan.com is gearing up for early mammogram screening. Later this year, it specifically targets women under the age of 50.

“We aim to fill that gap to accelerate access to treatment,” Bullock added.

The story so far

The Scan.com Group 30 Image credits: Scan.com

Scan.com was founded five years ago by clinicians Khalid Latif and Jasper Nissim, frustrated by the “inefficiency” of organizing tests for their patients. Originally started as a side project, the duo brought on CEO Charlie Bullock, COO Oliver Knight, and front-end designer Joe Daniels as co-founders in 2019, before going full-time through 2021. 4.2 million ($5.2 million) in seed funding from investors including Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield.

Today, Scan.com claims around 30 employees across the UK and US, having launched the product Stateside two months ago.

“In the first five weeks in the US, we were up to $1 million in annual revenue,” Bullock said.

So far, Scan.com is testing its service in Georgia, and the company is looking to expand to five more states to “solidify ourselves as the leading diagnostic imaging platform in the U.S.,” Bullock said. With healthcare systems, our focus for now is the US and the UK.”

With another $12 million in the bank, Scan.com is well-funded by digital health providers to continue its U.S. expansion and expand its service offering to include DEXA scans, echocardiograms, and the aforementioned mammograms, tracking enterprise contracts. , employee benefits forums, among other industry organizations.

“Medical imaging covers many different modalities, so our focus is to launch as many of these as possible,” Bullock said. “In addition to screening, we want to design ways to add value to our patients, such as for pain-relieving injections, or by adding in vitro testing and pathology solutions to preventive tests to make them more comprehensive.”

Scan.com’s Series A round was co-led by Oxford Capital, Aviva Ventures, YZR Capital, Three Point Ventures and SimplyHealth Ventures, with participation from Forfour Venture Partners.