Spruce, a virtual clinic connecting patients to board-certified doctors for remote diagnosis and treatment, launched today. With Spruce, patients can access high-quality care conveniently from their smartphones for only $40 and receive a treatment plan, including appropriate prescriptions, within 24 hours. Taking a focused approach, Spruce is launching with a comprehensive experience for the treatment of acne -- a condition that affects 50 million Americans -- and plans to rollout its advanced telemedicine platform to additional conditions in the future.

'With Spruce, we're striving to deliver a better way to see the doctor,' says Ray Bradford, founder and chief executive officer of Spruce. 'We've thoughtfully designed Spruce to be intuitive, thorough and personal, with the goal of creating a quality experience for both patients and their doctors. One that ultimately sets patients up for successful outcomes and eliminates the rushed appointment felt by both sides with a traditional doctor visit.'

Spruce worked closely with top board-certified dermatologists to understand their approach and workflows for treating patients with acne, and designed software to address frustrations both patients and doctors experience. For patients, dermatologist appointments are inconvenient and have long wait times -- the average wait time is 29 days -- so the vast majority of acne sufferers don't get professional dermatological care. For dermatologists, they report low compliance with their instructions once an acne patient leaves the office. With Spruce, patients can seek treatment immediately from their smartphones, and dermatologists can set patients up for success with prescriptions, detailed instructions, and easy-to-follow skin care guides that patients have with them at all times. Spruce also makes it easy for patients and dermatologists to securely message with follow-up questions, and provides a complete record of care that patients can share with their primary care physicians.

Treatment with Spruce is just a few simple steps away after downloading the iOS app:

Share with Dermatologist: Following a guided intake, patients take photos of their skin and answer the same medical questions they would answer during an in-person dermatologist appointment.
Receive a Treatment Plan: Within 24 hours, a board-certified dermatologist reviews the case and the patient receives a personalized, easy-to-follow treatment plan that includes prescription information and step-by-step instructions for care.
Get Clear Skin: Prescriptions are sent digitally to the patient's pharmacy of choice. The dermatologist is available to answer follow-up questions via the application, and patients can access dermatologist-reviewed Spruce Guides, covering topics related to acne, skin care and overall dermatological health.
A dermatologist visit on Spruce is $40. Payment is made when submitting a Spruce visit using a major debit/credit card, Health Care Spending Account (HSA) card or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) card. At launch, Spruce is available for patients 18+ in four states: California, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.

Founded by Ray Bradford in San Francisco last year, the company has raised seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Baseline Ventures and Cowboy Ventures. The company's first condition of focus is acne, and plans to rollout its advanced telemedicine platform to additional conditions in the future. Doctors on Spruce receive prompt payment for each visit, and have the added convenience of practicing medicine from anywhere, anytime.

For more information on Spruce, please visit www.sprucehealth.com.