The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the appeal of telemedicine for providers, payers, and patients alike, and Tyto Care, maker of at-home medical kits, has added to the array of available telemedicine options with the introduction of AI-powered features for its TytoHome app.

Consisting of an app and a mobile device with a range of attachments designed to expand its diagnostic capabilities, the platform enables patients or their caregivers to conduct exams of their ears, heart, lungs, and throat while communicating with doctors via the TytoApp.  The solution also lets clinicians and patients share exam data and schedule visits.

“The diagnostic support solution builds upon this by automatically detecting certain abnormalities in lung and throat exams, and alerting users and clinicians to the abnormality’s presence,” Dedi Gilad, CEO and co-founder of Tyto Care, explained in an interview with Fierce Healthcare. “This provides the clinician with further information to make a better-informed diagnosis remotely and enables the patient to understand the potential urgency of their concern.”

Unveiled at the recent HLTH 2020 virtual conference, the new AI features will facilitate remote triage of primary and chronic health issues while enabling providers to diagnose primary and chronic conditions.

Machine learning algorithms will let the diagnostic support solution detect abnormalities in the lungs such as wheezing, stridor and crackles as well as throat symptoms like redness and swollen tonsils, according to the company.

“The solution will improve the quality of remote triage for common primary and chronic health issues,” Gilad said. “If an exam indicates any abnormalities, the patient will be alerted and can better determine how urgently they should consult a healthcare provider. The detection will also enable clinicians to better assess urgency and make more informed diagnoses.”

According to the company, while AI was already part of its product, data from clinical literature as well as from more than 450,000 exams in the last year will now be used to develop the machine learning algorithms for decision support. Tyto Care uses past exams to test the algorithms, and the data help doctors detect abnormalities in lung and throat exams.

Moreover, the company said the need for a positive or negative COVID-19 diagnosis provided an urgency to create the diagnosis support features.

“COVID-19 accelerated the awareness and use of telehealth, and a natural next step was the development of the diagnostic support solution for throat and lung exams due to the nature of the virus,” Gilad said.