TelaDoc Medical Services, a Dallas-based provider of telehealth medical consults, has landed $9 million in investments to fund its next phase of growth.

Healthcare specialist Cardinal Partners and existing investor Trident Capital joined lead investor HLM Venture Partners to finance the investment, the company announced Thursday.

"We are very excited to partner with TelaDoc," said Martin R. Felsenthal, partner of HLM Venture Partners.

"By many accounts, as many as 20 percent of Americans lack a family doctor and as many as one-third have difficulty getting timely appointments for routine care," he said. "Any meaningful healthcare reform providing increased access to the 50 million uninsured Americans should only exacerbate these access issues."

Felsenthal said the capital would enable TelaDoc to build on its position in the telemedicine sector.

"We are particularly pleased with the company's large national presence, extraordinary patient satisfaction and high-quality provider network," he said.

Founded in 2002, TelaDoc is a national network of board-certified physicians who provide telehealth consultations around the clock. The physicians use detailed clinical histories to remotely diagnose and recommend treatment.

The TelaDoc model is designed to handle a significant portion of non-emergency medical cases. TeleDoc executives bill the service as being able to handle routine medical issues in a fraction of the time and cost often spent accessing care from urgent care facilities, emergency departments or physician offices.

"This investment signals strong market confidence in TelaDoc and its ability to remove barriers to patient care, which is an important component in all versions of healthcare reform," said Jason Gorevic, the CEO of TelaDoc. "We are very excited to add HLM and Cardinal to our team, and we appreciate Trident Capital's continued support of the company. This funding will help us to build on our ongoing initiatives to enhance the primary care physician-patient relationship and create meaningful and measurable change in the quality and cost of healthcare for millions of Americans."