Washington Health System Licenses Virtual Care Technology For Urgent Care

MultiCare Health intends to enhance telehealth access among those it serves by licensing 98point6's virtual care technology and adding it to Indigo Health, the ambulatory care platform through which it offers urgent care.

Centering its efforts around improving patient engagement, on-demand virtual primary care company 98point6 recently raised $20 million, enabling it to scale and offer its telehealth platform to health systems.

MultiCare Health System will implement the technology within its hybrid ambulatory care platform Indigo Health. Indigo Health includes 35 urgent care clinics across Washington, on-demand virtual care, and online primary care services. 

"Indigo Health's strategic partnership is a major milestone toward our vision to make achieving optimal health a reality for everyone," said Jay Burrell, president at 98point6, in a press release. "Labor shortages, lagging technologies, and a dynamic market have placed tremendous pressure on health systems to innovate across their customer journey, technology infrastructure, and operating models."

MultiCare Health System, an 11-hospital system spanning Washington state, established Indigo Health in 2015. Indigo provides care for a wide range of minor illnesses and injuries, including allergies, fevers, sore throats, ear aches, minor burns and fractures, as well as behavioral healthcare.

"Our strategic partnership with 98point6 will help us scale our digital capabilities to meet community demand and bring a new level of meaningful engagement to our customers. The healthcare landscape is changing quickly, with big players in the technology and healthcare sectors making significant investments in this direction. We know customers are eager to see the healthcare industry evolve and enhance digital capabilities for better care," said Ryan Fix, president retail health, at MultiCare, in the press release. 

Partnerships that aim to enhance virtual healthcare and extend access are becoming more common.

In May, Boston Children’s Hospital announced that it would work with Summus Global to add new virtual care options to its services. Through the partnership, Boston Children’s Hospital implemented Summus Global's virtual specialist platform to improve access to and quality of specialist care.

Earlier this week, Children’s Hospital of New Orleans entered into an affiliation with Cleveland Clinic to provide enhanced access to pediatric radiology experts via telehealth. Per the affiliation, Cleveland Clinic’s pediatric and neuro-radiologists will support the development of exam protocols, help interpret images and consult with physicians at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans.

Further, healthcare organizations are increasingly establishing collaborations to incorporate digital tools into care delivery and operations.

In July, Google Cloud and Northwell Health announced they would work together to implement cloud technology and artificial intelligence into health system operations. The overall goal of the collaboration is to improve the scheduling process and payer interactions.