In-Home Medical Testing Reaching Consumers Directly with Commercial Partnerships
Medical testing is becoming even more convenient. In-home health tests and testing devices are soon to be found in retail stores such as Target and Best Buy. These partnerships bring up some legitimate concerns about patients becoming "consumers", but will also make in-home testing more accessible (and many times affordable) to people across the US.
EverlyWell tests can now be found at Target (Tech Crunch): EverlyWell began selling its in-home health tests in Target stores nationally in April 2019. High deductible health insurance plans are driving employees to pay more of their medical expenses out of pocket. In-home tests are a way for people to cut costs and preemptively test for certain conditions. EverlyWell has 35 different in-home tests, most of which do not need a doctor's prescription. The forecast for the in-home medical testing market is looking good, and EverlyWell raised an additional $50M last month. EverlyWell tests can also be bought at retailers such as CVS, Amazon and Kroger.
Buy a Tyto Care device at Best Buy (Forbes): It is now possible to buy the TytoHome device on the Best Buy website (and a national store roll-out is expected soon).This is big news as it is the first time that people can commercially buy a TytoCare device. The FDA approved kit allows people to conduct medical exams (for ear infections, stomach aches, etc.) and send the results to their doctors. Although pricey ($299) patients can perform a medical exam with a physician for a diagnosis 24/7 through American Well's LiveHealth Online consultation service. Read more from Tech Crunch here.
More about the Boom in at Home Medical Testing (Elemental): This article discusses some pros and cons of in-home medical tests and what is driving the popularity and growth of the market. By some estimates, the in-home medical and genetic testing market is expected to grow to $340 Million by 2022 (see this Futurism article). Besides EverlyWell (see above) the article mentions LetsGetChecked (an Irish startup that offers in-home health tests and raised $12M last year), Thorne (urine tests and saliva tests for things from Stress to Menopause), & OraQuick (HIV tests).
TytoCare Joins the Epic App Orchard (HIT Consultant): Very big news for TytoCare and Epic patients. Patients can now use Epic's MyChart app to initiate a live or scheduled TytoCare telehealth visit. Care providers can launch the Tyto Clinician App from Epic’s HyperSpace desktop application and remotely join the telehealth visit with the patient. The care provider can then control the TytoCare device to remotely examine the patient. They can "[capture] temperature readings, skin images, heart and lung auscultations, and recordings of the throat and ears to inform remote diagnoses of acute care situations." All the data captured will be automatically transferred to the patients' Epic electronic health record (EHR). Check out the TytoCare video here.