Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, and American Well, a U.S. telehealth provider that connects millions of consumers with care professionals through video consults, have signed a new strategic partnership to jointly deliver virtual care solutions around the world.
 
Through this technology partnership, the two companies will work together to embed American Well's mobile telehealth services into an array of Philips solutions for both healthy consumers and patients with a medical need, spanning personal health and wellness, population health management, and clinical programs. A first example is Philips uGrow parenting app that soon will embed telehealth services provided by American Well. The new partnership aims to provide a seamless consumer experience through solutions that empower people to better manage their health.
 
Since 2006, American Well has provided consumers with 24-hour access to licensed healthcare professionals. People can use the service even when their primary care physician is not available, for the convenience of remote access and short wait times. American Well is also the telehealth infrastructure behind the largest payers, hospitals and employers in the United States who collectively serve more than 150 million Americans, nationally. Through long-established industry relationships, American Well is now expanding to create a global marketplace for its clients and partners to share resources and better deliver care digitally.
 
“Partnering with American Well to deliver highly personalized virtual care solutions to consumers and healthcare professionals fits Philips' vision of 24/7, coordinated care across the health continuum—the right care delivered at the right time in the right place,” said Jeroen Tas, chief innovation and strategy officer at Philips. “American Well already collaborates with many of the largest insurers and healthcare providers in the U.S., offering great opportunities for joint business development with the aim to create a better patient experience in this important new area of digital healthcare delivery.”
 
“We’re excited to participate in expanding and enhancing Philips’ best-in-class product line,” said Ido Schoenberg, M.D., chairman and CEO of American Well. “Philips brings great consumer professional devices and programs, coupled with powerful analytics. With the addition of telehealth, they can now offer everything from data collection to care provision and clinical intervention. Together we are helping providers and payers improve their care model by using a broader and more accurate data set, which will be analyzed more quickly to effectively close the loop with patients.”
 
Phase one of the partnership brings American Well's telehealth service into the Philips Avent uGrow parenting app. This telehealth update to uGrow was announced in the United States and will be available to download from the App Store and Google Play soon. Designed to support parents monitoring their baby’s development, uGrow connects wirelessly to an ecosystem of devices, such as the Philips Avent smart baby monitor. Coming to the ecosystem later this year, uGrow will include voice activation with Amazon Echo and the Philips Avent smart feeding kit that will automatically monitor the time, volume and duration of a baby’s feeds.
 
A key feature of the system is uGrow’s ability to let parents share data with—and receive personalized advice from—healthcare professionals. By connecting consumers directly with providers, American Well provides the secure, on-demand real-time video connection to a relevant healthcare professional (pediatrician, adult medical doctor or mental health specialist) online or via mobile phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and helps with scheduling an appointment with a lactation consultant. For the service, consumers will pay a fee, which differs by care professional type and consultation duration. For concerned parents, the in-app virtual care capability offers a unique advantage, saving time and the cost and trouble of an emergency room visit.
 
Beyond uGrow, Philips will leverage American Well’s mobile telehealth software development kit to integrate video visits seamlessly and natively into a diverse set of Philips’ digital health solutions. American Well’s integrated telehealth visits will be further enhanced via backend integration with Philips’ population health and clinical systems, based on the Philips HealthSuite Digital Platform. Via HealthSuite, consumers and patients can have secure and full control over their personal data, including data from their connected devices, and select which data to share with health professionals, resulting in more holistic, effective and personalized care, as well as a superior user experience and better health outcomes.
 
Philips will also join the American Well Exchange clinical services marketplace, which enables healthcare partners to exchange telehealth services with one another and redistribute them to new patient populations. Via the Exchange, Philips-branded telehealth programs can be redistributed to health plans, employers, and health systems within the American Well ecosystem, bringing Philips innovation directly to an ever-increasing number of consumers.
 
Royal Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2016 sales of 17.4 billion euros and employs approximately 73,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.
 
American Well uses telehealth to improve people's access to quality care. Through its partnerships with the nation's largest health systems, insurers, employers, and retailers, its telehealth  Exchange and direct-to-consumer service, Amwell, the company connects millions of Americans to doctors for live video visits.