Why wait almost 40 days when you can do it in 24 hours? Dermanostic makes it possible. The young company from Düsseldorf calls itself a “dermatologist via app” and can, in many cases, replace visits to a dermatologist’s office online, image-based diagnoses
Whether acne or rosacea, neurodermatitis or warts, herpes or skin cancer: there are many different skin diseases. There are also many dermatologists who treat them. But: In North Rhine-Westphalia, people wait up to 38 days on average for a dermatologist's appointment, say Dr. Alice Martin and Dr. Estefania Lang. It's not much different in other federal states. You are dermatologists yourself - and you don't want people with skin problems to have to wait so long until they can have them clarified and start treatment. Their approach: telemedicine. As founders and managing directors of medi-login GmbH in Düsseldorf, the two dermatologists have been gaining digital experience for several years. The company offers online training for medical professionals. When a change in the professional regulations for doctors allowed remote treatment in 2018, they took off. Just one year later, together with their husbands Patrick Lang and Dr. Ole Martin, also a doctor, dermanostic GmbH. Company slogan: “Dermatologist via app”.
“92 percent of our patients do not need another dermatologist visit afterwards”
“Dermatology is particularly suitable for telemedicine,” Alice Martin is convinced. “Many diagnoses can be made on the basis of images of sufficient quality.” In many cases, a dermatologist does not even have to feel the relevant area of skin, but rather see it - this can also be done using high-quality photos. This is how it works: Anyone who notices a change in their skin and would like a medical assessment downloads the dermanostic app, uploads three photos of the area and fills out a short questionnaire, which replaces the anamnesis interview in the practice. The app provides detailed instructions on the individual steps. Then you have to register, whereby dermanostic treats all data confidentially in accordance with the GDPR standard. You will then receive a diagnosis and treatment recommendation including a private prescription within 24 hours. If desired, the latter can also be sent directly to your preferred pharmacy or a partner online pharmacy so that an antibiotic or ointment can be used quickly.
“92 percent of our patients do not need another dermatologist visit afterwards,” reports Alice Martin. All doctors in the dermanostic team are licensed specialists in dermatology in Germany. Telemedical treatment costs 25 euros; Those with private insurance can submit the invoice to their insurance company as usual. Dermanostic has now concluded contracts with some statutory health insurance companies, which cover the costs as a special service for their customers. The first treatments have been running since 2020, and around 180,000 people have used dermanostic by August 2023. In addition, the company has now concluded numerous contracts with companies that also offer their employees dermanostic treatments as part of company health management. As a next step, dermanostic is working on involving dermatologists in private practice. These could then be relieved by dermanostic on the one hand and, on the other hand, offer quicker appointments to those people who need to be examined in person.
Alice Martin and Estefanía Lang know each other from their work at the dermatology clinic at Düsseldorf University Hospital. At STARTPLATZ Düsseldorf they founded and promoted dermanostic together with Patrick Lang and Ole Martin. The young, expanding company is now based in the Life Science Center Düsseldorf. dermanostic is very connected to the North Rhine-Westphalia location. “We benefit here, among other things, from the EXIST start-up grant, the Scale-up.NRW program for high-growth start-ups and the support from NRW.Bank,” says Patrick Lang, listing important location advantages. dermanostic has also already won the NRW Founder's Prize.
This success story of an innovative transformation was published in September 2023. There will be no updates or checks of the information afterwards.
The publication series “Transformation through Innovation” is intended to illustrate how companies in North Rhine-Westphalia have been able to write successful innovation stories thanks to the framework conditions created by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
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