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Trying to get an appointment to see a doctor and then carving time out of a busy schedule for the visit is almost a luxury these days.

But with significant advances in telemedicine and a recent easing in regulations, it鈥檚 increasingly common for people to get treated via telephone, texts, email or video for everything from basic ailments to mental health-related issues such as depression.

More Dollars, More Exits, More Growth

In recent years, funding in telemedicine startups has seen major increases. Globally, venture capitalists funded a total of 46 telehealth deals in 2013 with investments amounting to $93 million, according to the , 鈥渁 global communications and consulting firm.鈥� By , VCs had pumped $660 million into 86 telemedicine and remote monitoring deals鈥攁 nearly seven-fold increase in funding.

One of the sector鈥檚 highest-profile exits occurred in July 2015 when Dallas, Texas-based video visits telehealth company raised $156.8 million in an initial public offering. The company was one of the first to develop an app to enable remote visits with a doctor.

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Another high-profile startup in the space is New York-based, an online and mobile therapy provider that raised a $15 million funding round led by . Existing investors , , Metamorphic Ventures, and 聽also participated. That round brought the startup’s total funding to $28 million. While the company and others like it have received , there鈥檚 no denying that patients鈥� increased demands for convenient and virtual care are only rising.

With fewer regulations, the telemedicine space is poised to grow even further in coming years.

In Texas, for example, legislators in May approved, a bill that eases some of the state鈥檚 more restrictive requirements for telemedicine. The law eliminates the need for an in-person consultation to establish a physician-patient relationship prior to providing telemedicine services.

In the U.S. alone, major telemedicine companies such as , , and a slew of other startups will soon be able to legally compete in all 50 states.

Technological Foundations

Technology has come a long way since CEO and Managing Partner Dr. Bernard Harris Jr. conducted the first telemedicine conference from space with the Mayo Clinic in 1993.

The former astronaut and MD, with his team at the NASA Johnson Space Center, developed much of the diagnostic hardware that was used to communicate with researchers on the ground from space. Those researchers were then able to analyze that data from a distance and provide medical advice over the phone. (Harris also holds the distinction of being the first African-American to walk in space.)

Fast forward nine years and Harris launched Houston-based as an accelerator to provide funding for fledgling telemedicine startups. The premise behind Vesalius is to identify cutting-edge business operations in the areas of telemedicine, medical information, and technology. If necessary, the fund will also provide seed-stage financing and initial management talent.

Along with partners such as , , and , his firm has funded seven telemedicine companies鈥攕everal of which have had significant exits.

In 2008, for example, German industrial giant Bosch acquired Health Hero Network Inc., a Vesalius portfolio company. Health Hero Network developed and sold technology that allowed the remote monitoring and management of patient health data.

More recently, Vesalius led a $5 million round for, which describes itself as a digital therapeutic company focused on revolutionizing the mental health industry with clinically proven, non-invasive, drug-free solutions.

To Harris, the biggest game-changers for the telemedicine field have been the changes in communication technology.

鈥淲hen we first started up in 2002, you had to have a dedicated T2 line in order to conduct a two-way telemedicine session,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淎T&T, for example, had to run special lines to take care of the data load. Now we can do the same thing with phones or tablets. And that has allowed a lot of the innovation you鈥檙e seeing happening today.鈥�

Harris remembers years ago considering investing in a company that had a glucometer connect to a pager to send a diabetic鈥檚 glucose measurements to a call center.

鈥淢y partners and I thought at the time things were moving so fast in the mobile space that those problems would be solved in a couple of years,鈥� he said. 聽鈥淎nd, we were right. Now glucometers have Bluetooth that can interface with a phone or computer and results can be tracked, and trended. A child taking their blood sugar can even have the results automatically sent to a parent鈥檚 phone.鈥�

Making Healthcare Convenient And Timely

Austin-based is aiming to take the on-demand health model to another level by connecting patients to all of their existing doctors via text or video through a single app. Many startups in the space have connected patients to doctors with whom they have had no prior relationship, noted CEO and founder Clint Phillips. The company last fall from high net-worth individuals and has since launched in the U.S. and South Africa with plans to launch in other countries by the end of the year.

鈥淧lenty of companies like Doctors on Demand, MDLIVE and Teladoc provide a patient with a call center doc,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know them, they don鈥檛 know you. There鈥檚 no context or records involved. And your medical record becomes fragmented.鈥�

To Phillips, Medici has great growth potential because, quite simply, 鈥減eople want to speak to their own doctor.鈥� And by doctor they mean everyone from your endocrinologist to your veterinarian. Plus, doctors don鈥檛 view the company as a threat since it claims to enhance or protect their business 颅鈥� not replace it. Medici is HIPPA compliant and provides malpractice insurance in an effort to provide a 鈥渟afe鈥� environment for doctors, Phillips added.

The startup has approached doctors with the ability to communicate via text, phone or video with their patients and many are enthusiastic about the possibility, according to Phillips. This month alone, about 600 physicians have downloaded the Medici app. Medici makes money by charging doctors a fee for every encounter they have via the app.

Thanks to telemedicine, 鈥減eople are no longer having to drive 75 minutes to get a refill,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淪ome doctors can even work from home a day or two out of the week.鈥�

Telemedicine appears to be poised for potentially explosive growth as startups clamor to cash in on patients鈥� increasing demands for convenience.

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