Tyto Care announced this week its artificial intelligence-powered diagnostic support tool, aimed at improving the quality of remote triage.

The tool, which has been submitted to the FDA for clearance, will initially detect abnormalities in lung exams. The New York City-based device company said that it also plans to detect symptoms in throat exams, such as exudates or swollen tonsils.

"We are excited to be pushing forward the evolution from telehealth to tele-diagnosis," said Tyto Care cofounder and CEO Dedi Gilad in a press release.

"The pandemic has accelerated the need for remote care, and we have seen first-hand the global surge in demand from health organizations, hospitals and consumers for high-quality telehealth solutions," Gilad continued.

WHY IT MATTERS

The use of telehealth has surged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with synchronous, one-on-one video proving particularly important in providing seamless care. 

However, relying on such a workflow for all virtual care needs has obvious limitations, as anyone who has tried to show their doctor their tonsils via a dimly lit phone camera can tell you.

Tyto hopes to address such gaps with software like its diagnostic support tool, which the company says will alert clinicians and patients to the presence of abnormalities that are common, but difficult to diagnose remotely, such as wheezing.

According to Tyto, the company based its decision-support algorithms on data from more than 450,000 exams performed with its device over the last year, in combination with clinical literature and input from pulmonologists and general practitioners.

"A lot of people are starting to see virtual care as a true delivery model," David Bardan, Tyto Care VP of enterprise solutions, told Healthcare IT News earlier this summer. 

"What's changed the game is [that] connected devices in the home have really become a thing," Bardan continued. "Tyto fits neatly in that strategy and can live as part of the staple in the medicine cabinet."

Although insurance may not cover Tyto devices, Bardan noted that many patients can use their Flexible Spending Account to pay for them.

"Alternatively, there are some payers that are basically looking at the care continuum and determined this product is necessary" for chronic disease management, said Bardan.

THE LARGER TREND

Tyto is among many remote patient monitoring device vendors that have noted the importance of virtual care amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

ThinkLabs founder Clive Smith told Healthcare IT News that the industry is moving toward intelligent patient monitoring – to try to find a signal, so to speak, amidst the noise of patient data.

"What's a doctor going to make of your FitBit information? How much information is there going to be among the data?" Smith said.

ON THE RECORD

"With Tyto’s diagnosis support solution, we will be equipping clinicians to make better informed decisions from afar. We look forward to propelling telehealth and tele-diagnosis even further with other at-home diagnosis solutions to come," said Gilad.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.