Healthcare Isn’t an E-Shop. But It Needs the Same Tools, Says Tomáš Havryluk, Medevio

June 19, 2025

After 15 years at Alza.cz — one of Central Europe’s largest online retailers, where he helped lead the company as a CEO — Tomáš Havryluk set out on a completely different path. With his new startup Medevio, he’s transforming how patients communicate with their doctors.

“While retail has been digitized for years, healthcare still runs on landlines. We’re replacing the analog phone with a CRM system for doctors,” he says.

Read the interview:

Ivana Karhanová: When people hear “digitizing healthcare,” they usually imagine AI analyzing X-rays and diagnosing illnesses — all those high-tech things. But you say digitization should start somewhere else. How did you come to that conclusion?

Tomáš Havryluk: When we started Medevio, we were initially thinking about telemedicine and remote treatment. But as we began to understand how healthcare really works, we realized the biggest opportunity was actually much simpler: improving communication between doctors and patients. Right now, most doctors still rely on the telephone — a 149-year-old invention — as their primary communication tool.

Ivana Karhanová: So, you’re saying doctors still use landlines?

Tomáš Havryluk: Sometimes landlines, sometimes mobile phones. We’ve even seen typewriters in use. Of course, some younger doctors are very digital, but overall, the range of digital skills in healthcare is very wide.

Ivana Karhanová: What did you come to understand about the healthcare system?

Tomáš Havryluk: Coming from e-commerce, everything was about transactions — fast, rational, competitive. Healthcare is fundamentally different. The system is mostly financed by public health insurance, and insurers can’t make a profit or loss. Their goal is simply to break even. That changes the whole economic dynamic of the sector.

Ivana Karhanová: So, what does Medevio actually do?

Tomáš Havryluk: We replace the doctor’s ringing phone with a digital assistant. The average general practitioner gets 51 calls per day. That’s unsustainable. We install a digital switchboard on the doctor’s number, allowing them to control who can reach them and when. Calls are transcribed by AI, and patients leave a voice message explaining their issue, which gets turned into text. It’s asynchronous and far more efficient.

Ivana Karhanová: And what else?

Tomáš Havryluk: We also let doctors create a customized “request menu” — basically a mini e-shop where they define what they can handle remotely: prescriptions, consultations, paperwork, test results, etc. We then guide patients through structured forms to ensure doctors get all the info they need to respond appropriately.

Ivana Karhanová: So, you brought the idea of an e-shop into healthcare?

Tomáš Havryluk: In a way, yes. It’s like CRM for doctors.

Ivana Karhanová: And the patient interacts through a web or mobile app?

Tomáš Havryluk: Exactly. The doctor has a web-based backend, and we integrate with their existing practice software — usually legacy systems that date back to the first wave of healthcare digitization.

Ivana Karhanová: But isn’t that still too little — just digitizing appointment scheduling?

Tomáš Havryluk: I get that. But in healthcare, you have to move carefully. If a TV delivery goes wrong, nothing serious happens. But in healthcare, even small mistakes can have big consequences. That’s why it’s safer to start with administrative improvements, not core medical processes.

Ivana Karhanová: So, you’re saying: bottom-up, not top-down?

Tomáš Havryluk: Exactly. Top-down projects often try to build giant systems to store and share all medical data. But they usually fail because the scope is too broad and complex. It makes more sense to start with daily workflows — scheduling, communication, document exchange — and build from there.

Ivana Karhanová: What’s the current state of the market?

Tomáš Havryluk: There’s overwhelming demand. Patients are queuing up, and doctors aren’t under pressure to innovate — they don’t need to fight for patients like businesses in retail. Most of them are just trying to manage the overload.

Ivana Karhanová: So, what resonates with doctors?

Tomáš Havryluk: The biggest thing is that their phone stops ringing. It’s that simple. Once that happens, they can handle calls more efficiently and only when necessary. Even older patients adapt — the oldest Medevio user is 97. And the oldest doctor using it is 82.

Ivana Karhanová: What about booking appointments?

Tomáš Havryluk: Half the calls are just about scheduling. Once doctors open up their calendar, these calls go away. We also help with calendar structuring: segmenting the day for acute cases, chronic patients, checkups, etc.

Ivana Karhanová: What’s next for Medevio?

Tomáš Havryluk: We’re building a communication ecosystem between healthcare providers. Doctors can refer patients to each other digitally, chat in the context of a specific patient, and exchange reports or test results seamlessly.

Ivana Karhanová: So eventually, it’s about broader interoperability?

Tomáš Havryluk: Exactly. For now, it’s a proprietary platform, but our long-term goal is to evolve into a general protocol so systems can talk to each other — like a healthcare-specific messaging standard.

Ivana Karhanová: What about AI?

Tomáš Havryluk: It’s definitely relevant. For example, we’re testing AI to generate structured summaries from long psychology sessions. That saves time and lets doctors focus more on patients. Long term, I think everyone will have personal AI assistants analyzing everything from sleep to conversations, giving personalized feedback.

Ivana Karhanová: That sounds a bit unsettling…

Tomáš Havryluk: I get that. But I believe AI will be as transformative as smartphones — or even the internet. We’re already seeing it change search, education, and productivity. Tools like GPT can act like a permanent tutor. The way we learn is going to change dramatically.

Ivana Karhanová: So the future of education is shifting too?

Tomáš Havryluk: Definitely. Students now have access to 24/7 mentors. That’s a huge advantage if they choose to use it for learning, not just shortcuts. The same goes for professionals. The faster we embrace these tools responsibly, the more value we’ll get from them.

Ivana Karhanová: That’s Tomáš Havryluk, CEO of Medevio. Thanks for joining us.

Tomáš Havryluk: Thank you, it was a pleasure.