{"id":33509,"date":"2023-10-20T14:31:05","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/dont-go-to-see-a-doctor-for-a-sick-note-skype-them-instead-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:31:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:31:05","slug":"dont-go-to-see-a-doctor-for-a-sick-note-skype-them-instead-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/dont-go-to-see-a-doctor-for-a-sick-note-skype-them-instead-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t go to see a doctor for a sick note \u2013 Skype them instead – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dr Sachin Patel doesn\u2019t want you coming to his office for a medical certificate.<\/p>\n

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He wants you to Skype him instead.<\/p>\n

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The Melbourne-based GP is launching Dr Sicknote<\/a>, a startup that allows patients with minor illnesses to see a doctor via webcam to get a sick note rather than travelling to a clinic.<\/p>\n

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He says the initiative is designed to reduce pressures on doctors and Medicare, with requests for certificates costing the health system as much as $100 million every year.<\/p>\n

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He also says it\u2019s in the patients\u2019 best interests not to get out of bed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe last thing you want to do is leave your house,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou know when you go to the doctor they\u2019ll say, \u2018please rest\u2019.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut because your employer wants a certificate you have to take time out of your recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an employer himself, Patel understands why workplaces concerned about their employees taking \u201csickies\u201d might be sceptical about Dr Sicknote.<\/p>\n

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But Patel says the most common complaints \u2013 diarrhoea, migraines and colds \u2013 are all taken on face value when meeting a doctor in person and his online service would be no different.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also says most people are not trying to weasel out of work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority are not trying to do anything funny, they\u2019re just trying to get themselves better and continue going their daily lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fact, he said his company will promote the importance of employment to its customers, and educate bosses about ways to engage employees who might be absent more often than they\u2019d prefer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On occasions when Patel\u2019s staff don\u2019t think a certificate is warranted, Dr Sicknote can refuse to issue one and reimburse users the $19.99 consultation fee.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Employers can even contact the company if they want to check the authenticity of the certificate, and when someone plans on being absent from work longer than two days, Dr Sicknote won\u2019t issue documentation; they will then need to see a GP in person.<\/p>\n

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Dr Sicknote is Patel\u2019s second foray into the world of health tech this year after starting Aged Care GP<\/a>, a mobile doctor service for people living in aged care facilities.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s another attempt by Patel to ease the burden placed on health care providers and he says it will free up doctors to use their time on sicker patients.<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? Let us know. Follow StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sachin Patel doesn\u2019t want you coming to his office for a medical certificate. \u00a0 He wants you to Skype<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33509"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}