The Forward Debacle

One year ago I wrote an opinion piece here on DPCN called:

DINOs Are Adding AI To Reach The Lowest Common Denominator

You can read it and see how I predicted these CarePods, which cost $100 million, were just another shot in the dark for Forward Health. Here is what the cofounder of the company said at the time:

“Slowly but surely we’re just migrating every single thing from doctor and nurse to hardware and software,” Aoun said. “In fact, we don’t even believe a doctor’s office should exist.”

Yeah, I don’t think so. This dude was talking out of his ass and, well, now Forward is out of business. But not before blowing at least $650 million. Yes, you read that right. Here is the source. You can also read in that article that Forward’s technology didn’t work and people were getting trapped in the CarePods.

I ended my post above by saying, “I think technology is great as an adjunct. But remember, even in Star Trek they never got rid of Dr. McCoy.”

I still believe this. I also believe the cofounder who said the above quote is an idiot.

I know a little more about Forward than most because my 32-year-old son has been a member since they started. I think they truly had DPC in mind when they began but wanted to be bigger. Their technology was interesting with a lot of promises. The problem, he said, is things started to change. Their technology never really got better. Their app sucked. Doctors turned into teams who screened every question. It was more style over substance.

Ahhh, but the company kept getting more infusions of cash because that is what private equity (PE) does until…..they stop. Remember, PE wants their 10x return and Direct Primary Care doesn’t do that. We are a profitable service industry where doctors make a good living but we don’t scale. Read this post to explain why.

The Forward website is down but you can click the button that states Forward/ Doctors Dedicated to Your Long-Term Health and their letter is available to read. It explains how they are done. I guess they aren’t dedicated to my long-term health.

Here is the slimy part. My son told me this:

In the days leading up to the announcement, I was conspicuously met with a (mandatory) update to the Terms of Service in order to access their health app. Multi-pages long; with things like “Privacy”, “Data”, and “Arbitration” just a few of the fun words that stuck out. Coincidence? Maybe. But where there’s smoke…

Imagine that. Patients were extorted into signing over their power to sue them in order to get their information from the Forward app. This sure doesn’t sound legal to me.

Many DPC docs have commented on FB about Forward shutting their doors. Some are sad, most are happy, and others are gloating. For me, a retired DPC doc who writes this blog, it is just another “I told you so”. When you try to eliminate doctors from Direct Primary Care then you are a DINO (Direct Primary Care In Name Only). It’s just a fact of life.