Xealth, a Seattle-based startup whose platform allows doctors to prescribe digital health content, apps and services, has launched a new ability.
Now physicians can use the company’s technology to digitally send patients over-the-counter product recommendations. Patients can see the list of items in their health system portal and decide to purchase them from Amazon or other companies. The feature will initially work with Amazon’s e-commerce platform and will then be expanded to other retailers.
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Xealth said it doesn’t have a partnership with and isn’t paid by Amazon. Its technology relies on publicly available APIs to conduct transactions.
If a patient doesn’t have a smartphone or email access, his or her doctor’s suggestions can be printed out at the point of care.
Examples of recommendable items include ice packs, door pulleys, heel straps and forearm crutches for orthopedics patients and body pillows, maternity belts and compression socks for expectant mothers. Future examples of products could include breast pumps, anti-colic bottles, back support pillows, acne treatment and sunblock.
The tool’s ultimate goal is to save physicians time and give patients a more convenient way to get the care they need.
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Two health systems — Providence St. Joseph Health and UPMC, which were Xealth’s first two customers — are also the first to go live with this latest feature. UPMC will use it in the maternity and orthopedic care fields, while PSJH will bring it to its Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Institute. The capability will also roll out at other systems in the future.
In a statement, Dr. Charles Young of PSJH’s Facey Medical Group commented on the Xealth capability:
In orthopedics, it can be confusing for patients to know which braces or devices are really the ones that will improve their symptoms and help them heal. And it can be difficult for clinicians like myself to ensure that they are communicating their advice in a way that patients will remember and act upon. This venture brings those two together by providing a digital link between doctor and patient to ultimately get them back on their feet.
Xealth, which was spun out of Providence’s Digital Innovation Group, raised $8.5 million in 2017. The round was led by DFJ, and Providence, UPMC, Hennepin Healthcare System and Froedtert Health also participated.
The Seattle startup’s CEO, Mike McSherry, doesn’t have a healthcare background. He comes from the tech world, having co-founded Swype, a mobile keyboard app that was eventually sold to Nuance. After working for Nuance for a few years, he and a few Swype team members joined Providence as executives-in-residence who were tasked with coming up with innovative ideas related to healthcare. They tossed around between 60 and 70 ideas before landing on Xealth, McSherry said in a phone interview last year.
Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill, Getty Images
