MedLion's Co-Founders Are Back. This Time They're Building AI.

Dr. Samir Qamar co-founded MedLion in the early 2010s, back when most physicians had never heard of Direct Primary Care. MedLion was one of the first DPC companies in the United States. Now Qamar and co-founder Samantha Rivera are back with something different: a free, AI-powered healthcare companion called ASTRID, built on top of their virtual DPC practice, AstroDoc.

ASTRID went live globally this past week. If you’ve been watching the intersection of AI and primary care, this one is worth understanding.

What ASTRID Actually Does

ASTRID is a free AI health tool available at myastrid.ai. No download, no sign-up, no subscription. You ask it health questions via voice or text, and it responds with clinically informed guidance, citing its sources along the way.

Under the hood, it runs on what AstroDoc calls a “multi-LLM architecture” that cross-references multiple AI models to verify its own answers. The company says the system was designed by physicians and trained specifically for medical conversations.

The privacy approach is notable: ASTRID stores no user data, requires no account creation, and retains no conversation history after a session ends. AstroDoc says the platform meets HIPAA and GDPR requirements.

On its own, that sounds like plenty of other health AI chatbots. The difference is what happens next.

The “Last Mile” Argument

Qamar’s pitch is that most AI health tools hit a dead end. You describe your symptoms, the AI gives you information, and then you’re on your own. You still need to find a doctor, book an appointment, explain everything again, and wait.

“AI companies building in healthcare,” Qamar said in an earlier announcement. “We need healthcare companies building in AI.”

ASTRID’s premium tier, available in the US, connects directly to AstroDoc’s virtual medical practice. That’s a nationally licensed telemedicine operation the team has been running since 2024. The connection means ASTRID can hand off to a physician for consultations, prescriptions, specialist referrals, and lab orders. No separate intake. No starting over.

AstroDoc built the practice first, then built the AI on top of it. That’s the opposite of what most health tech startups are doing, and it’s a distinctly DPC approach to the problem: start with the patient relationship, then add technology to extend it.

Self-Funded, Physician-Owned

Here’s the detail that might matter most to DPC physicians: AstroDoc built ASTRID entirely in-house over 12 months without institutional funding. No VC money. No Series A. No board of investors pushing for growth-at-all-costs.

That’s a familiar playbook for anyone in the DPC world. Most DPC practices are bootstrapped and physician-owned. Qamar appears to be applying the same philosophy to health tech. Build what you can control, own the infrastructure, keep the patient relationship at the center.

Whether that approach can compete against well-funded AI health companies is an open question. But for a community that’s watched what happens when investor money starts reshaping primary care, the bootstrapped angle matters.

Qamar also brings hardware experience to the table. He created MedWand, an FDA-cleared telemedicine examination device now deployed across healthcare systems globally. Between MedLion, MedWand, and now ASTRID, the throughline is consistent: build physician-designed tools that put care delivery ahead of data extraction.

What This Means

ASTRID isn’t a threat to DPC practices. It’s a signal.

The model Qamar is testing, AI as a front door to direct primary care, is one that other DPC physicians could eventually adopt in some form. Imagine a practice where prospective patients first interact with an AI health tool, get useful guidance, and then transition seamlessly into the practice for ongoing membership care.

For physicians considering DPC, watch how this plays out. The combination of AI triage and direct-access medicine could lower patient acquisition costs and expand a practice’s reach beyond a single geography.

For existing DPC physicians, the practical question is simpler: will patients start expecting this kind of always-available, AI-enhanced experience? If so, the practices that integrate AI thoughtfully, without sacrificing the relationship-centered model, will have an advantage.

Qamar built one of the first DPC companies in America. If he’s betting the next chapter on AI-augmented direct care, that’s worth paying attention to.