Best Buy Extends Reach in Telehealth With $299 Remote Diagnostics Device

Best Buy expanded its telehealth reach, partnering with Tyto Care on a device that does medical exams on-demand from home. The TytoHome device is available at retail exclusively on Bestbuy.com and in select Best Buy stores in Minnesota, and “soon” in California, North Dakota, Ohio and South Dakota, said the companies Wednesday. The $299 handheld device comes with attachments used to examine the heart, lungs, skin, ears, throat and abdomen, and measure body temperature, to enable remote diagnosis of acute care situations such as ear infections, sore throats, fever, cold and flu, allergies, stomach aches, upper respiratory infections, coughs and rashes, they said. With the device, users can perform “comprehensive medical exams,” said the companies, and send the captured exam information to a primary care provider for diagnosis 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Maximum cost to users per virtual visit is $59, “potentially even less depending on the visit and/or the user’s health insurance plan,” they said. Sanford Health will provide care to TytoHome users in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa and South Dakota. Users will be able to connect with a Sanford medical provider for physician-guided exams and diagnosis. Tyto Care works with “experienced, quality telehealth platforms” across the country including LiveHealth Online, powered by American Well, the telehealth provider for users who buy TytoHome from the Best Buy website and reside outside of Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, they said. Through LiveHealth Online, select employers can offer the service to their employees and give them coupons to buy TytoHome at Best Buy. In August, the retailer bought GreatCall, a provider of connected health and personal emergency response services to the aging population, for $800 million.