Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds was founded by Owen Tripp in 2011 after he experienced a family health crisis that revealed how arbitrary specialist selection can be. The company built a network of peer-reviewed academic specialists to provide remote second opinions, addressing the gap between patient diagnosis and access to top clinical expertise. The core insight was that outcomes improve when patients are matched to the right sub-specialist, not just the nearest one.

In 2021, Grand Rounds merged with Doctor On Demand to form Included Health, combining expert advisory services with integrated virtual primary and urgent care. Owen Tripp remained CEO of the combined entity. The merger created a platform that covers over 25 million members for self-insured employers, offering both navigation and direct clinical delivery.

The company contracts directly with self-insured employers on a per-member-per-month basis, taking on performance risk for clinical outcomes and cost savings. This model differs from fee-for-service telehealth by aligning incentives around appropriate care utilization and specialist matching, rather than visit volume.

Disclosed clients include Walmart and Costco, with the platform covering employees across multiple large self-insured organizations. The company's membership base exceeds 25 million individuals, primarily through employer-sponsored health plans in the United States.

The company curates a network of over 600 academic specialists from institutions including Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic. These physicians provide remote second opinions and treatment guidance, with the platform matching patients to subspecialists based on clinical data and outcomes data rather than geography.

Unlike pure navigation services, Included Health delivers care directly through its employed medical group — a capability gained through the Doctor On Demand merger. This allows the company to move from expert recommendation to treatment delivery within a single integrated platform, closing the loop for patients and employer clients alike.

Ami Parekh was appointed Chief Medical Officer in January 2023 to unify clinical strategy across the virtual care and navigation platforms. She oversees the employed medical group and the specialist network, reporting to CEO Owen Tripp.