Teladoc and Kinsa expand their partnership

Kinsa Smart Thermometer

Telehealth service provider Teladoc has expanded its partnership with Kinsa, which is best known for its FDA-cleared Smart Thermometer. Thanks to the new integration, the Teladoc app can automatically detect the Kinsa app on a user’s phone, guide the user to Kinsa, and offer the option to import up to 10 days of temperature readings into the Teladoc platform. Upon opt-in, the data is integrated into the Teladoc physician’s view of the health record, supporting diagnosis with a clear, visualized rendering of the patient’s temperature history. This comprehensive data helps inform decisions regarding diagnosis, such as bacterial versus viral conditions based on temperature trends evident in the data.

“We are excited that Kinsa’s technology can further improve the user experience for telemedicine,” Inder Singh, Kinsa’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “This partnership advances both Kinsa’s and Teladoc’s goal of helping individuals and families in the exact moment of need, when they want care. We believe users will see tremendous value in this new seamless experience.”

Also as part of the partnership, the two companies will work together to bring greater value to large employers — simplifying for employees the experience of caring for sick children, driving higher telehealth utilization, and improving the quality of care delivered.

“Behavior change that will continue to accelerate telehealth adoption is fueled by consumer-facing innovations like the Kinsa Smart Thermometer, a technology that immediately delivers clinical value with a wow-factor experienced by parents and their children alike,” Dan Trencher, Teladoc’s Senior VP of product and corporate strategy, said in a statement. “At Teladoc we are anchoring our innovation in smart technologies and partnerships — in relevant, affordable, consumer-centric innovations — that will have a lasting impact, and contribute to a new and better care experience for our members.”

Projected to reach $612 billion by 2024, the connected healthcare industry is estimated to provide $30 billion in savings in 2017 and up to $50 billion in savings by 2018, according to Accenture. The integration of Kinsa with the Teladoc telehealth platform is an example of fully achieving connected care by deriving maximum value and consumer engagement from the integration, which in this case also directly leads to driving telehealth adoption.