Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Health announced a partnership with New York’s TytoCare, which offers a modular device and examination platform for remote medical exams.
The partnership will enhance the health system’s ability to diagnose and treat patients remotely with in-depth, physical exams during video visits.
The handheld device, which has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, enables users to perform physical exams of the heart, skin, ears, throat, abdomen, and lungs. This allows health care providers to gain clinical data required to monitor, diagnose, and treat patients while avoiding in-person visits.
Using the Spectrum Health app, consumers can connect to their provider for a live, on-demand video visit. During the visit, the health care provider will guide the patient through the examination process using the TytoCare kit.
“We are thrilled to partner with Spectrum Health to help expand its existing video-based telehealth offering by fully replicating an in-person visit from any location,” says Dedi Gilad, CEO and co-founder of TytoCare. “TytoCare is enabling Spectrum Health to provide the telehealth experience people desire today, allowing for more thorough virtual care from the comfort of home, at work, or on the go, which is crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic and routine times as well.”
In an initial pilot with Spectrum Health employees and their families, 75 percent of patients and 100 percent of health care providers indicated that using the kit during video visits improved the quality and comprehensive nature of the appointment.
“Spectrum Health is committed to providing an at-home care experience that truly brings the health care provider to our consumers. TytoCare enables us to do just that,” says Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Spectrum Health West Michigan. “The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the importance of telehealth, yet even when the pandemic is behind us, it will still be critical to provide consumers with convenient and accessible high-quality care in the comfort of their own homes.”
TytoCare, which also has an office in Israel, offers a telehealth platform, a cloud-based data repository with analytics, and guidance technology and machine learning algorithms. It was founded in 2012 and has partnered with more than 100 health systems, health plans, and strategic partners in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Israel.
Spectrum Health is a nonprofit health system with 14 hospitals, 150 ambulatory sites, and telehealth offerings.
