Navy Medicine awarded consulting firm Accenture's federal business a potential five-year, $79 million contract to help manage its telementoring program.

Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health patients can now access TytoCare's portable patient examination device for telehealth appointments.

Noctem, a telehealth startup, received a $1.3 million grant from the Medical Technology Consortium Enterprise to pilot a virtual care platform that treats sleep disorders in U.S. military service members.

Best Buy acquired Critical Signal Technologies, a personal emergency response systems and telehealth monitoring services provider, around May 3, Digital Commerce 360 reports.

Various hospitals, health systems and health-focused technology companies are turning their focus to preventative care. Some health system leaders describe this as keeping patients out of a hospital while consistently providing quality care.

Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital is using a new platform developed by Locus Health, a digital health platform company, to improve follow-up care for cardiology and neonatal intensive care unit patients.  

The Infectious Diseases Society of America highlighted six categories that telemedicine can be applied to help increase access to patient care for infectious diseases, according to the organization's statement published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Alan Roga, MD, president of health systems for Teladoc Health, led a discussion about consumer telehealth strategy during an executive roundtable at the Becker's Hospital Review 10th Annual Meeting in Chicago in April. The discussion was driven by results from Teladoc's 2019 State of Consumer Telehealth Benchmark Survey, which highlights the types of providers driving growth in consumer telehealth services, why they are expanding and how they are doing so.

Bangor, Maine-based St. Joseph Healthcare installed a telemedicine system for its rheumatology department to offer appointments to patients who are unable to travel to the hospital, CBS affiliate WABI reports.

Nurx, a telemedicine startup that sells prescription drugs such as birth control and HIV-prevention medication online, named Kim Boyd, MD, its new medical director.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and Microsoft are partnering to extend broadband internet connectivity in rural areas, improving access to services like telemedicine for 4.7 million veterans.

Eight recent partnerships between health systems and telehealth vendors:

Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina will begin providing telehealth services to Hampton Regional Medical Center in Varnville, S.C., The Augusta Chronicle reports.

The U.S. population's shifting age demographics have created a need for more proactive care. Three million baby boomers are estimated to reach retirement every year for the next 20 years, according to Advisory Board. Additionally, 33 percent of adults are identified as obese, according to the CDC. Both trends highlight the growing need for chronic illness management and proactively reaching patients before they present at the hospital.

The scarcity of broadband access in rural counties may leave the residents of those areas unable to experience telemedicine appointments, Reuters reports.

Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health partnered with Bensalem (Pa.) Emergency Medical Services to acquire a $1.2 million mobile ambulance that is equipped with technology to help diagnose and treat stroke more quickly, Courier Times reports.  

Ft. Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health is offering a new virtual care service that allows patients to use telehealth to receive treatment and prescription medication from their providers, Business Observer reports.

Mountain Home, Ark.-based Baxter Regional Medical Center partnered with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock on a pilot program that uses telemedicine to increase the speed of stroke care, NBC affiliate KY3 reports.

Teladoc Health has created a patient safety organization dedicated to virtual care.

Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health partnered with Contessa, an acute home care management company, to offer its patients home recovery care services including virtual visits by a physician and remote monitoring.