LivingSocial is testing two new services that would bring more of the restaurant experience to your doorstep. One of these services, LivingSocial Room Service, features food from higher end restaurants and complements them with top-notch service and amenities. It's an interesting way to differentiate from other delivery sites (e.g., GrubHub, Seamless), while tapping into their deep user base that, presumably, includes some affluent diners or users who want a four-star experience at a two-star price.
There are several principles that could be applied to healthcare:
1) There is a market for urgent care / retail clinics and a market for long-term home care, but how about on-call home clinics? Can you create a network of nurse practitioners that could be deployed via app / phone? Barring any legal challenges, can a volunteer corp be used for a similar purpose? How can this be monetized?
2) Can the discount / group buying model be applied to general practitioners? Obviously group buying has been applied to the drug industry and there are economies of scale across medical groups, but can a company create its own network to reduce costs for urgent care services?
3) There are several segments that LivingSocial is targeting here - presently affluent, future affluent (which will grow as the recession eases), and aspirational diners. The first group is already accounted for in healthcare - I think of older patients that have access to various services through their existing plans. The other two groups would be our targets, but given their profiles, could require more targeted services (e.g., preventative care education)
