British telemedicine provider buys Essen-based start-up

Digital diagnoses, treatments and medical consultations via video: This is made possible by the company Zava, which is now expanding its offering in Germany by acquiring the Essen-based start-up sprechstunde.online.

The British telemedicine provider Zava is buying the Essen-based start-up sprechstunde.online and thus expanding further. Sprechstunde.online offers video consultations that have been certified by the German Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, are GDPR-compliant and can be billed for all patient groups. Around 12,000 doctors and therapists work for sprechstunde.online. "Video consultations, consultations, second opinions, check-ups, follow-up appointments - the digital exchange makes patient contact more flexible and infection-proof," says Jochen Roeser, Managing Director of sprechstunde.online, describing the service, which has received a further boost, especially in times of the coronavirus pandemic. The video platform was developed by Deutsche Arzt AG.

The purchase price is not known. "Thanks to the groundbreaking merger with sprechstunde.online, we are now the leader in the outpatient sector," says David Meinertz, CEO of Zava. Meinertz, a lawyer from Hamburg, is a co-founder of the British company. Around 200 employees now work from Hamburg and London for Zava, which entered the German market in 2011. Since then, almost 5 million treatments have been carried out online. Treatments in the fields of general medicine, dermatology, internal medicine, men's and women's health and travel medicine are carried out using a medical history form or photo diagnosis. This has also been simplified by the introduction of electronic prescriptions last year.