In the US, patients are consistently faced with a lack of available medical appointments. Long-time friends and business school graduates, Joanna Baker and Phaedra Chrousos set out to find a solution to this chronic problem. The result: HealthLeap, a free service that enables patients to schedule medical appointments in their area quickly and easily online.

Joanna: HealthLeap offers an easy way for people to find the doctors they need in their area. They search for appointments on our website by location or the doctor’s specialty, then choose a time that works for them. Once they’ve scheduled the appointment online, they get an automatic confirmation. Our service also sends reminders to patients about their appointments.

Phaedra: Doctors also benefit from working with HealthLeap. Our service increases their net income: they have more slots booked, get fewer patient no‑shows, and have lower administrative costs. Also, HealthLeap cuts down the time doctors spend on administrative work, which makes it possible for them to spend more time taking care of patients.

Joanna: IT innovations are revolutionizing healthcare here in the US. By bringing health appointment scheduling into the 21st century, HealthLeap can play an important role. No one else in the US does what we do, the way we do it. Not only will HealthLeap reduce doctors’ operating costs, it’ll help patients get the care they need, when they need it.

• We have a strong sense of purpose. This helps us face the challenges of bringing a new innovation to the market.
• We’re flexible. At the moment, we have limited resources, so we’re always wearing many hats.
• We’re constantly learning. It’s critical to know enough about every aspect of the business to be able to ask the important questions and interpret the answers.
• We make sure everyone on the team has a strong voice. Finding the right answer is always easier when your team is comfortable brainstorming and expressing their opinions in debates.

Joanna: I have to say that my personal role model is my mother. She has an amazing ability to pick herself up after setbacks. Professionally, I look to Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay. She built an internationally recognized brand that redefined commerce and had a huge social impact.

Phaedra: My mother is my role model. She’s a doctor who balanced running a successful private practice with raising a family. She showed me that it’s really possible to have it all.

Phaedra: We hope that our story inspires other women to start their own businesses, especially in male‑dominated industries such as healthcare technology.

Joanna: There are certainly fewer female entrepreneurs; men have dominated the area in the past. There tend to be fewer support networks for women business owners. The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards are a critical step in providing this support and sending an important message to women entrepreneurs.

Joanna and Pheadra work with Joseph Mitchell, McKinsey Boston and Florian Schmieg, INSEAD MBA 09 on the revenue model and the development of HealthLeap’s e-service.