State representative and Tap Telehealth pitch $9/month telehealth model to Aurora committee

State Representative Barbara Hernandez (Aurora) and Brian Davis of Tap Telehealth presented a walk-on proposal to the Public Health, Safety, and Transportation Committee on June 23, 2026, describing a subscription telehealth service that the presenters said could give households access to clinicians by text-first interactions and reduce avoidable emergency calls.

Hernandez said the model offers low-cost preventive care "without insurance in the middle of this," and described an instance her staff used the service to confirm a COVID diagnosis and receive a same-day prescription. "I really do hope to do this across the state," Hernandez said, adding she has filed legislation to allow non-home-rule communities to participate.

Brian Davis explained Tap's model and its origin with founder Dr. Dirk Parrott, an ER physician who provided phone access to patients he believed could avoid emergency care. Davis described city pilots in Texas and Algonquin, Illinois, and said the service typically charges about $9 per household per month (about $108 per year), covers up to 10 people registered per household or business, and is intended to be placed on a city services/utility bill as an opt-out charge. "We remove every layer of friction between a doctor and a sick patient," Davis said, describing a text-first workflow with a clinician always available for oversight and escalation to phone or video when needed.

Committee members pressed on clinician location and licensing (Alderwoman Smith asked whether doctors would be licensed in-state; Davis said Tap would recruit Illinois-licensed clinicians when the program scales locally), clinical safety (Alderman Bugg asked about limits of text-only diagnoses; Davis said clinicians can escalate to FaceTime for children or complex cases and that all clinicians carry malpractice insurance), and costs to individuals and the city (Davis said patients only pay for prescriptions; he said Tap would cover or assist with any utility-billing integration costs and would match $1 per participating household into a local community health fund, if implemented).

Alderman Tunney reported trying the service and said he connected to a physician assistant within minutes, describing a positive user experience. Shannon Cameron, chief of staff to the mayor, told the committee that procurement and legal processes must be followed before the city can proceed and offered to accept Tap's information for follow-up with the mayor's office and legal staff. The committee did not vote on the proposal; members directed staff to continue dialogue with the mayor's office and legal counsel about structure and next steps.

Several of the program's performance claims were made by the presenter: Davis said some pilot cities saw EMS dispatches fall (he cited percentages in his presentation) and that most initial city participants retained the service; those figures and other operational claims were presented by Tap and were not independently verified by city staff during the meeting.

If the city pursues the idea, the next steps identified at the meeting are informational: Tap to provide materials and to work with the mayor's office and legal on procurement, contract structure, and implementation details for future committee consideration.