Prognosis

Startup Soars Providing In-Home Health Care, Testing in Time of Covid

Ready attracts $54 million in fresh funding from Alphabet unit and venture capital firms as pandemic drives many from ER

Ready paramedic Abel Collado performs a Covid-19 swab test on a patient during a home visit.Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg
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The U.S. emergency department, long an imperfect shelter for those with non-urgent medical needs, is perhaps the last place you want to be amid a pandemic.

Covid-19 has aggravated an already-broken U.S. health-care system in which at least 30% of emergency department visits were deemed unneeded before the virus’s arrival. Patients with less urgent conditions often wait hours for care, and they’re usually left with a hefty bill. Now, a new heath-care model is seeking to bridge the gap between clinical care and telemedicine, offering hands-on medical aid inside people’s homes.