Telehealth News

Cincinnati Children’s Jumps Onto Teladoc’s DTC Telehealth Platform

Cincinnati Children's is partnering with Teladoc Health to develop direct-to-consumer telehealth services for children - and to give the hospital a spot on Teladoc's national telemedicine platform.

Source: ThinkStock

By Eric Wicklund

- With direct-to-consumer telehealth firmly entrenched in the primary care landscape, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is partnering with one of the giants in the DTC industry to make sure children aren’t overlooked.

The hospital this week announced a partnership with Teladoc Health to develop a pediatric telehealth platform, giving healthcare providers, health plans and businesses access to DTC services specifically designed for children.

“Children are not small adults – they have unique needs,” says Alan Roga, MD, Teladoc Health’s president of hospitals and health systems. “And we’re seeing an unmet need in the (DTC telehealth) market for this type of service.”

That market is, to put it mildly, crowded. Roughly three-quarters of all hospitals and health systems now have some sort of telehealth program in place or expect to have one up and running within the year. Some, like Michigan-based Spectrum Health, have their own platform, while others partner with telehealth companies like Teladoc, American Well, InTouch Health, MDLive, SnapMD or any one of dozens of smaller vendors.

This particular market got its start by offering on-demand care for general, non-emergency health issues like colds, fevers and infections. But as the market has grown, the platform has evolved to include specialty care, health and wellness services, even labs.

One area of significant growth is in pediatric care. Parents want access to providers who know how to treat children, and pediatric hospitals are seeing that channel as a means of expanding their reach and offering more services.

The concept isn’t entirely new. Several pediatric hospitals have extensive telehealth and telemedicine programs, including DTC services. Among them is Nemours Children’s Health Care, which has hospitals in Wilmington, Del., and Orlando and a specialty care center in Jacksonville. Nemours launched its Nemours CareConnect service in 2015 with help from American Well.

The Teladoc-Cincinnati Children’s deal aims to take that a step further, giving the pediatric hospital a place on Teladoc Health’s national DTC telehealth platform.

“With the increased adoption of consumer telehealth, the time is now for pediatric hospitals to have a platform that is designed specifically to support the unique care needs and workflows they manage,” Roga said in a press release announcing the partnership.

“Whether we’re treating a child who has a complicated diagnosis or treating and managing more common illness, our pursuit of the best outcomes means that our telehealth system should be tailored to pediatric needs,” added Marianne James, CIO and senior vice president of Information Services at Cincinnati Children’s. “Cincinnati Children’s, through our Center for Telehealth, continues to expand telehealth services for pediatric patients. We are proud to be at the forefront of bringing an innovative platform to market that will benefit other hospitals, children and families across the country.”

Roga said Cincinnati Childrens and Teladoc Health will collaborate on designing telehealth services that address clinical needs, clinician workflows and unique user experiences for both children and their parents. Their goal is to go live with this platform early next year.

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