Our Mission
Our Mission
I started One Door out of frustration with something I kept seeing in clinical practice: patients reaching a major decision without really understanding the alternatives. Women with uterine fibroids who had been offered hysterectomy but had never heard a meaningful discussion of uterine fibroid embolization. Men with severe urinary symptoms who knew something was wrong but had no idea which treatments or specialists might help. Not every treatment is right for every patient. That is exactly why the options should be explained.
I am an interventional radiologist. I know the limits of my own specialty, and I know that the right answer may be medication, surgery, a procedure, observation, or a different physician altogether. I do not believe patients should have to know the name of a specialty before they can understand their choices. They should be able to start with the problem they are experiencing.
One Door grew from that belief. It is an effort to make reliable, understandable clinical education easier to find, to help people recognize appropriate next steps, and to support better conversations with their clinicians. It should work for people who are not already inside a hospital system, and language should not be another barrier. Multilingual education is part of the mission, not an expensive extra.
Explain reasonable treatment choices, risks, benefits, and limitations. A patient's understanding matters more than promoting any one procedure.
Start with symptoms and questions, not departmental names. Make education understandable and available across languages without a separate language surcharge.
Good care crosses specialties. Primary care, surgeons, interventionalists, and other clinicians should help patients reach the right team, even when that care happens elsewhere.
Technology should reduce confusion and unnecessary friction, not add another complicated layer between a patient and a clinician.
Medicine has become complicated enough that even physicians struggle with the systems surrounding care. Patients feel that complexity even more. Trust is earned by being candid, listening, and making sure people understand what is being recommended and why.
One thing I have appreciated at Cottage Health is the collegiality among physicians and the willingness to work across specialties. That is the kind of collaboration I want One Door to encourage. Hospitals and practices do not need to operate as isolated verticals. They need better ways to help people find appropriate care, wherever it is.
I hope One Door becomes a practical tool that physicians and practices can use to educate their communities, and that patients can use to ask better questions and make informed decisions with their care teams. We are still building and validating parts of the platform. But the reason for building it has never changed: people deserve to know what options exist, in a language they understand, and have a fair chance to find the right care.
“The goal isn't to convince patients to choose a particular treatment. It's to make sure they know what choices they have.”
— Michael Swikehardt, MD
Founder, One Door Health
Q1 2027 is the target for early application availability. Clinical content, integrations, and production workflows are subject to review and release readiness.