Telehealth

News of several telehealth acquisitions have made waves throughout the health IT space in recent months.

Nearly half of Teladoc's virtual behavioral health visits so far this year have been with men between the ages of 20 and 35 — a group that has historically faced heightened stigma surrounding mental health — according to CNBC.

Although telehealth increases patient access to care and can improve care quality, its success depends on where and how it is used, according to an HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality review.

In a new partnership with digital health provider Babylon, Samsung is launching a new system called "Ask an Expert, powered by Babylon" for its customers in the U.K. that lets users check symptoms and book live video appointments.

Researchers from UCLA and Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles proved Fitbit personal activity trackers could be a useful remote patient monitoring device, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Teladoc on May 31 acquired international virtual care provider Advance Medical for an estimated $292 million in cash and $60 million of Teladoc common stock.

EpicMD introduced Carie, a third-generation mobile telehealth platform.

The global telemedicine market is expected to experience rapid growth over the next five years, according to a P&S Market Research report.

Three-quarters of U.S. hospitals either have consumer telehealth services in place or plan to implement the capability by the end of 2019, according to Teladoc's second annual state of consumer telehealth benchmark survey.

Dick Daniels, CIO of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, is charged with growing the health system's digital operations, but that growth is happening almost naturally, he told The Wall Street Journal.