TytoCare, the global health care industry’s first all-in-one modular device and examination platform for AI-powered, on-demand, remote medical exams, and Alice, Brazil’s first primary care-driven health insurance plan, have announced today a partnership. Alice is the first company in Brazil to integrate with TytoCare, offering its members an easy-to-use, portable examination kit to conduct virtual physical examinations anywhere, anytime, putting healthcare in the hands of consumers. TytoCare will be distributed exclusively in Brazil by Tuinda Care.
Alice, which in December 2021 received the largest venture capital round ever reported in Latin America by a health tech company, began operations in June 2020 as an innovative tech-enabled health plan, built on the foundation of virtual-first, team-based primary care. Besides providing each of its members a ‘Health Squad’ (“Time de Saúde”) – composed of a family doctor, a nurse, a nutritionist, and a physical trainer – the company also serves as a private health insurance provider with access to top-of-the-line hospitals, labs, and a network of medical specialists. Most hospitals in the network are contracted under a value-based healthcare (VBHC) payment model.
With the TytoCare partnership, Alice will enable seamless digital diagnostics for its members, while enabling physicians to offer clinic-quality virtual care. TytoCare is the only all-in-one telehealth solution enabling physicians to remotely connect with patients for clinic-quality physical examinations. The handheld examination kit enables users to perform comprehensive exams of the heart, skin, ears, throat, abdomen, and lungs, as well as measure heartrate and body temperature, which are key for treating many acute and chronic conditions. This allows healthcare providers to gain the vital clinical data they require to monitor, diagnose, and treat patients and avoid unnecessary in-person visits. All the data is stored in Alice’s app and becomes available to all health professionals who care for the member, allowing for seamless care coordination.
“This data integration – the first of its kind in Brazil – enables the member’s Health Squad to easily follow up on any chronic or acute condition, providing patients with long-term care while ensuring accuracy, speed, and convenience in both diagnoses and treatment plans,” said André Florence, CEO of Alice. “TytoCare also reduces costs and the need for travel to and from hospitals and clinics. In addition, it enables the health professional to share vital information with other physicians and specialists for a second opinion.”
TytoCare is easy to use and requires only an internet signal for members to conduct synchronous virtual consultations with their physician who can guide them through the exams and see the results in Alice’s app. The physician can then better direct the member to the appropriate care pathway, either by referring them to an emergency room or by writing a digital prescription, when necessary. Currently, 15% of digital queries use TytoCare’s support and with the integration, this number is expected to grow even further.
With TytoCare, Alice can offer better assistance to a member who has, for example, an earache in the middle of the night and opts to use ‘Alice Now’ (“Alice Agora”) – an in-app, text-based virtual primary care service that supports audio and video and is available 24/7 for members who need immediate medical assistance. Within one hour, the member will receive the TytoCare device at home and the physician will guide them through a physical exam to see in real-time what is happening in the ear canal.
The TytoCare examination kit can be used to support the care of children and adults as well as for patients with more complex illnesses who need frequent monitoring. “Members with medical complexities use health services more frequently and can benefit from remote monitoring, reducing the frequency of in-person visits,” said Ana Carolina Lucchese, Tuinda Care director. “Easier access to medical services can also prevent further complications and hospitalization.”