Obamacare Gives Boost to Startups Focused on Health Care for Poor

Bay Area dermatologist David Wong can’t forget a patient he met during a trip to California’s Central Valley in 2009: a farmworker with a bleeding lesion on his right forearm who died within six months of Wong’s diagnosis of metastatic melanoma. The man lived less than two hours from San Francisco, and Wong says he was appalled by the “marked difference in the access to care as well as the quality of care patients were receiving.”

That experience led Wong and a fellow dermatologist to launch an online clinic in 2010. Direct Dermatology uses photos patients upload to diagnose growths, rashes, and other skin problems, usually in less than a day and at what Wong says is about half the cost of a regular doctor visit. The Palo Alto business, which has nine employees and a network of 20 dermatologists, has performed more than 10,000 consultations. Its services are covered by Medicaid and some private insurers.