Build vs. Buy: The journey for Heal
The Company
Heal is revolutionizing the doctor house call with On Call, a mobile application that allows you to schedule a doctor to come to your home.
Challenge 1: Reducing Developer Workload
To bring the app to market as quickly as possible, the Heal development team needed to focus on the core of the app and spend as little time as possible on identity requirements.
Challenge 2: Focus on Requesting Next-Gen Care
Heal is focused on delivering a revolutionary new healthcare model from the convenience of a mobile device. It’s developers want to focus on creating the best possible experience, not setting aside time for learning the latest identity standards.
Challenge 3: A Systems-Spanning Solution
Heal wants to ensure that it’s doctors are spending the maximum amount of time with patients, not spending excessive amounts of time logging into multiple systems, as is customary with many traditional healthcare systems.
The Biggest Decision of All
Building internal solutions for all these needs—patient, provider, and personnel—became untenable in Heal’s earliest years. Finding a tool that could manage the IAM needs of On Call, plus related health systems and internal tools, became a paramount concern.
We very quickly realized that we would not be able to keep up with the needs we had in terms of securing patients’ identities, and also be able to do things like single sign-on with partners.
Rish Tandon, CTO, Heal
Future-Proofed Identity
Identity and security standards are changing every day. Increasingly, consumers are requesting methods of authentication that don’t require passwords. With Okta, Heal has a partner in planning for a secure, passwordless future.
That was another reason to choose a forward-looking vendor. As these scenarios in identity are enabled by Okta, we don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting of figuring out how to do this. We’re just on the bandwagon, and we get it.
Rish Tandon, CTO, Heal
B2B Integrations
Heal partners with many insurance companies. Integrating directly with their existing identity solutions and directories ensures a great experience for their doctors and providers, but also eliminates the user management burden on Heal’s IT team.
We encourage our partners to provide us with a SAML integration whenever possible, so that our doctors don’t have to switch between multiple identities. It saves time, it’s super-efficient, and it’s secure.
Rish Tandon, CTO, Heal
Security by Default
Okta handles HIPAA compliance so that Heal’s team can focus on what they do best - matching patients to doctors.
It goes way beyond securing personal identifying information. We have to ensure that, when it comes to our patients, their records are completely safe. Identity plays a very important role in that.
Rish Tandon, CTO, Heal
Results By the Numbers
- 40,000+ housecalls, and counting
- 4x more time spent with patients than typical doctors
- 1 identity system for customers, doctors, partners, and employees
Let Okta Take Care of IAM
For Heal, the answer to the question of build vs. buy was clear. When a robust IAM solution is adopted, great things are possible. Heal built a patient mobile application and a doctor tablet application in record time with Okta’s pre-built identity service. By embedding an enterprise-grade, secure authentication, authorization and user management layer, Heal was able to remain laser-focused on their mandate - providing the best possible home care to their patients.
