Chicago Provider Adds Virtual Medical Exams to Telehealth Program

NorthShore University HealthSystem has partnered with a telehealth company to integrate virtual medical examinations into its current telehealth program.

NorthShore serves residents across the Chicago metropolitan area and operates six hospitals. The health system consists of more than 3,000 physicians, 120 offices, and 17,000 team members, and 36 Immediate Care Centers.

The partnership with TytoCare aims to help NorthShore providers diagnose and treat patients using telehealth. Telehealth adoption spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and satisfaction levels for both providers and patients have been high.

The health system will offer patients access to the telehealth vendor’s handheld, artificial intelligence-enabled examination kit. The kit lets users perform physical exams of their heart, ears, throat, skin, abdomen, and lungs. Users can also measure their heart rate and body temperature with the equipment included in the kit, according to the company.

By performing at-home physical exams, patients can substitute in-person visits with virtual visits. The providers can use the exam results and vitals to help monitor, diagnose, and treat acute and chronic conditions.

“NorthShore University HealthSystem is committed to providing an enhanced telehealth experience, enabling our patients to stay on top of their health during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” Sean O’Grady, chief operating officer of NorthShore University HealthSystem, stated in the press release. “TytoCare enables us to do just that, offering our patient population quality care without needing to visit a clinic in person.”

NorthShore will also offer virtual pediatric care and urgent care services for common conditions such as ear infections, the flu, the common cold, and asthma. The health system plans to add primary care and specialty care services to the telehealth offering soon.

Patients must pay a one-time purchase fee to access the virtual examination kit. They can attend a live visit with their provider using the NorthShore patient portal and the telehealth app. During the virtual visit, the provider will help the patient use the exam kit properly and will subsequently diagnose the patient and come up with a treatment plan or write a prescription.

Patients can use health savings account and flexible spending account funds to purchase the FDA-approved device.

Prior to the finalized partnership, NorthShore launched a pilot round of TytoCare with more than 280 NorthShore employees in May 2021. The employees could use the telehealth platform and kit for urgent care concerns. According to the press release, the pilot exceeded the health system’s goals and the companies used employee feedback to adjust and refine the service before making it available to patients.

This is not NorthShore University HealthSystem’s first telehealth initiative. In August 2020, the health system launched a telehealth platform that used remote patient monitoring tools to monitor patients with heart failure after they were discharged from the hospital. The program leveraged mHealth wearables that measured patient vitals to help providers track their progress.