Summary
Let patients who are already talking to your clinic bring one of your own doctors into that conversation, schedule a call or start a video, at a price you set. Offer the request to the patient's own doctor first, then to whoever is on, and keep every exchange on the record. Patients get an answer the same evening, and the question stays with your clinic.
Patients now send far more messages than they make visits. Across tens of millions of US patients, messages per patient-year rose 153% between 2020 and 2025 while office visits rose 17%.1 Most of those questions are small, and most of them arrive when the clinic is closed.
For a private clinic, each of those questions is a choice the patient makes about where to take it. This article sets out how a clinic can answer them with its own doctors, in minutes, without adding a night shift.
See it in your clinicSee a patient's question become a paid answer from one of your own doctors, on your own patients, in thirty minutes.
Request a demo| The patient's need | The right way in | What the clinic sets |
|---|---|---|
| A photo and a question | A doctor joins the chat | Price, prescribing rules, response target |
| A conversation about a plan or a worry | A call at a set time | Price, slot length, which doctors |
| Needs to be seen now | Video now | Price, hours, cover doctor |
| Describes an emergency | Fixed emergency wording | Wording agreed with a clinician |
The small question decides where the patient goes
A question about a rash, a dose or a side effect rarely needs a full appointment. It needs a doctor who can see the record and answer in a few lines. When a clinic cannot do that the same evening, an app with its own doctors can, and the patient learns where to go next time.
Charging for answers does not reduce the demand. When one academic health system began billing for portal messages, about 3% were billed and message volume fell by about 2%.2 The questions keep coming, so the decision is whether the clinic answers them as a service it is paid for.
Three ways in, from one conversation
A patient talking to the clinic's assistant should be able to choose how much doctor they need. A doctor joining the chat suits a photo and a question. A call at a set time suits a conversation. A video now suits a patient who needs to be seen.
Each choice carries the clinic's own price, shown before anything is sent, and the patient pays before a doctor is asked. Asynchronous care can be safe and cheaper for suitable problems. In a UPMC study of e-visits for sinusitis and urinary infections, follow-up rates were similar to office visits and the cost per urinary infection episode was $74 against $93.3
The same study found antibiotics prescribed far more often at e-visits, 99% against 49% for urinary infections.3 A clinic offering chat consultations should set prescribing rules for them, and route anything that needs examination to a call or video.
Offer the request to the patient's own doctor first
Continuity is not a courtesy. A systematic review found that 18 of 22 studies linked greater continuity of care with lower mortality.4 In Norway, patients who had kept the same GP for more than fifteen years had a risk of death about 25 to 30% lower than those with one for a year or less.5
So the order matters. The request goes first to the doctor who knows the patient, then to the other doctors the clinic has on, then to cover the clinic names. Each doctor sees the question, the fee and the relevant guideline before accepting, and the first to accept joins the same thread with the full record. More on this in continuity of care when patients see many doctors.
Measure the minutes, and publish them to yourself
A service a clinic cannot measure is a service it cannot sell. Track the time from request to a doctor joining, the share answered inside the clinic's target, and the share moved to a call. Review them each week by doctor.
Set a fallback for the request nobody takes. After the time the clinic sets, offer the patient the next call slot and do not charge for the request that went unanswered.
The same model in London, New York and Dubai
In the UK, remote consultations sit inside the clinic's CQC registration, and doctors follow GMC guidance on remote prescribing.6 In the US, the doctor needs a licence in the patient's state, and controlled substance prescribing by telehealth follows DEA rules extended to 31 December 2026.7 In Dubai, a clinic needs DHA telehealth authorisation, and UAE health data stays in the country.8
The money works the same way everywhere. The patient pays the clinic at the clinic's price, and the doctor is paid by the clinic for the answer. See the doctor on demand feature for how wai runs it.
Bring a week of your clinic's after-hours questions and see which of them your own doctors could have answered that evening.
Request a demoFrequently asked questions
Can a private clinic offer doctor on demand with its own doctors?
Yes. The request goes only to the clinic's own doctors, registered where the patient is, starting with the patient's own doctor.
How much should a clinic charge for a chat with a doctor?
That is the clinic's decision for its market. Price it as a service with a clear scope, shown to the patient before they send anything.
Is chat consultation safe?
For suitable problems, studies of e-visits found similar follow-up rates to office visits.3 Set prescribing rules and move anything that needs examination to a call or video.
What happens if no doctor accepts the request?
Set a time limit. After it, offer the patient the next call slot and do not charge for the unanswered request.
Can a doctor prescribe from a chat?
Where the market allows it and the doctor judges it safe. In Australia, for example, prescribing usually needs a real-time consult unless the doctor is the patient's usual practitioner.
Does it work outside the UK?
Yes, on each market's rules. US doctors need a licence in the patient's state, and UAE clinics need telehealth authorisation and in-country hosting.
Sources
- Patient portal messages outpace office visits, read 18 October 2026
- Billing for patient portal messages, read 18 October 2026
- Comparison of care at e-visits and physician office visits for sinusitis and urinary tract infection, read 18 October 2026
- Continuity of care with doctors, a matter of life and death, read 18 October 2026
- Continuity in general practice as predictor of mortality, acute hospitalisation and use of out-of-hours care, read 18 October 2026
- Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices, read 18 October 2026
- DEA telemedicine flexibilities for controlled substances in 2026, read 18 October 2026
- Health data transfers outside the UAE, read 18 October 2026
Answer tonight's questions with your own doctors.
Thirty minutes on your patients, your doctors and your prices. We reply within one working day, and we would like to build this with you.
Partner with us
See it on your own patients, then build it with us
Thirty minutes on your own patients, doctors and rules, in your market. We reply within one working day, and the clinics that partner with us early shape what we build next.
Read how doctor on demand works in a clinic