Health IT, Hospitals, Startups

Cox, Cleveland Clinic team up on telehealth efforts

The Cleveland Clinic and Cox Communications, the nation’s third-largest cable and broadband provider, have jointly […]

The Cleveland Clinic and Cox Communications, the nation’s third-largest cable and broadband provider, have jointly formed a venture that aims to bring in-home telehealth services to possibly millions of consumers.

The collaboration, dubbed Vivre Health, comes amid significant and growing interest in telehealth services, not just from healthcare providers but also for Cox and other telecommunications companies.

Cleveland Clinic will offer its expertise to Atlanta-based Cox in identifying suitable services, ranging from video consultations, monitoring patients recovering from surgeries and the use of home medical equipment, officials said.

Cox simultaneously said it made an undisclosed investment in Ohio-based startup HealthSpot, which makes kiosks with telehealth capabilities in retail spaces like pharmacies. Taken together, the investment and collaboration represent a sizable jump into the telehealth space for Cox.

“We have a lot of broadband experience and a lot of connected home expertise,” Cox spokesman Todd Smith said. “We think there’s a lot of opportunity there. We’ve been watching the way homes have been evolving over the years, and one of the things we saw a couple of years ago was a desire for home automation.”

Smith likened the transition of health services toward the home to that of the ATM — initially, consumers did all of their banking at a fixed branch location but eventually realized it could be done remotely via ATMs and, eventually, through the internet and mobile devices. Healthcare is finally catching up, enabled by significant advances in broadband speeds and technology, he said.

“The intention is to work together (with Cleveland Clinic) to help drive this,” he said. “It’s intended to involve potentially many other partners and players down the road.”

For the Cleveland Clinic, the partnership makes a lot of sense, according to Dr. Thomas Graham, chief innovation officer for the clinic.

“Cox touches one out of every three Americans,” he said. “They have ways to reach our populations with any type of messaging and communication platforms that are becoming relevant and will become increasingly relevant. There’s a greater emphasis on communications in medicine, not only in the traditional therapeutic setting, but we may be able to find alternatives.”

Cox is likely not alone, with cable companies sensing an opportunity in healthcare that can perhaps offset traditional television offerings. Cox provides internet and similar services to hospitals already. Healthcare accounts for about 10 percent of its 6 million customers.

The joint effort between Cleveland Clinic and Cox will be located in Atlanta.

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