Justin Fulcher had spent years arguing that a video call with a doctor could matter as much as an in person visit. In early 2020, that argument stopped being theoretical almost overnight. COVID-19 arrived within weeks of Justin Fulcher settling back into Charleston, South Carolina after RingMD’s relaunch in the United States, and telehealth suddenly became essential rather than optional for hospitals and clinics everywhere.

Fulcher responded by offering a white labelled version of the platform for free to doctors, hospitals, and healthcare organizations around the world. The decision reflected the same logic that had driven him since his early twenties in Southeast Asia: healthcare access mattered most when it reached people who otherwise had none at all.

A Shift in Attitudes

He later described the shift in blunt terms, saying the pandemic had turned telemedicine from a nice to have into a must have almost overnight, compressing roughly a decade of expected progress into a matter of months. Hospitals and clinics that had resisted remote care for years suddenly needed it just to keep basic operations functioning.

New Kinds of Partners

That same year, RingMD partnered with PROVision Partners International to bring telehealth services to the hotel and cruise industries, offering travelers access to care for as little as two dollars per person per night. It was an unusual application for a platform built around clinics and hospitals, but it fit the pattern Fulcher had followed from the very beginning of his career.

Justin Fulcher’s approach never changed much across markets or industries. Put healthcare access wherever people happen to be, and keep the cost low enough that organizations actually adopt it, whether that meant a rural clinic in Southeast Asia or a cruise ship somewhere out at sea.

Looking back on that stretch of 2020, the speed of adoption stood out to Fulcher as much as the demand itself. Organizations that had spent years deliberating over telehealth contracts signed on within days once in person visits became impossible, a reversal that reshaped how healthcare providers thought about remote care long after the initial wave of the pandemic had passed. Refer to this article to learn more.

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