MedStar Health launched its premier concierge medicine practice, called Signature by MedStar Health, in September and is expanding the digital health tools available to members.
The health system tapped Withings Health Solutions to arm patients with a cellular blood pressure monitor, BPM Pro 2, and an advanced cellular scale, Body Pro, to support personalized care.
Signature by MedStar Health, located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, offers patients enhanced access to a dedicated team of concierge doctors, medical professionals and highly personalized support. The service features a hospitality-inspired office, 24/7 direct access to physicians and dedicated care navigation for an elevated patient experience, MedStar Health executives said.
"The inception of Signature was to offer a new kind of concierge practice, one that addresses patients needs from a multipronged approach rather than just managing their acute care needs or their chronic needs," Merlene Horan, M.D., medical director of Signature by MedStar Health, told Fierce Healthcare. "It's a primary care practice, essentially, it's not an executive health practice, where we manage chronic medical needs, but on top of that, we address nutritional needs and we also have an athletic trainer on our team."
The nutritional and fitness experts design meal plans, advise on diet and nutrition and build out patients' fitness plans. Signature by MedStar Health also takes a tech-driven approach to using wearables, and now also connected devices, to collect patients' health data—patients are offered complimentary Oura smart rings and now Withings devices.
"Implementing the Withings Body Pro and BPM Pro 2 into Signature by MedStar Health helps us support personalized care and wellness as a cornerstone of our new concierge primary care practice," Horan said. "By staying connected to patients at home through these devices, we’ve been able to identify potential health issues faster and improve our patients’ access to our comprehensive, elevated care experience."
Withings, a French consumer electronic company, launched its B2B health solutions division in 2019 to meet the growing market around virtual care and remote management in the U.S., according to Patrick Sheehan, vice president of value-based care at Withings Health Solutions.
He described Withings as a medical device company with a "consumer-grade experience."
"The remote monitoring market was created at a time where the device industry was not really designed for the consumer in mind. I think more and more what we're seeing today is that the patient is a consumer and the consumer is a patient," he said.
The use of the Withings connected devices can help optimize and manage patients' medication use. Signature by MedStar Health clinicians are able to intervene more quickly with patients by having access to the real-time data, Horan noted.
Concierge medicine, a healthcare model charging annual fees for personalized services, is growing by 4% to 7% annually, with 10,000 to 14,000 U.S. physicians now in such practices, according to Concierge Medicine Today.
At the same time, physician shortages, rising costs and concerns about equity are driving efforts to develop new models that deliver measurable value. Connected devices help concierge providers extend care beyond the clinical walls to drive better outcomes.
As healthcare continues its shift toward value-based care, partnerships between value-based care providers and device companies are essential to proving that innovation can drive both better experiences and outcomes, Sheehan noted.
"Our position is our devices are big drivers of outcomes and quality, and we look for partners who have those types of incentives for us to really have strong collaborations," he said.
Withings' collaboration with MedStar Health reflects a market shift to transforming concierge medicine into a scalable, data-driven approach to value-based care, Sheehan said.
Concierge medicine providers are often leading adopters of more innovative care models, Sheehan said.
"Consumers want to be able to use great devices and follow their biomarkers, and they want a physician to be able to act on it and be integrated in their own care, and that, in large part, is being driven by concierge medicine today," he noted. "We are excited by this [MedStar Health] collaboration because it allows us to really demonstrate our value propositions—it's really easy to use, great consumer experience, great automations and firmware around scaling these types of programs, and then finally the reliability around the data. Our partners can confidently titrate and develop protocols around this data. We think that partners like MedStar and the Signature program can then inform the rest of the market downstream, much like asynchronous care was informed by One Medical Iora, we think these types of programs can inform connected care."
Sheehan noted there are several differentiating factors that make Withings stand out in the health monitoring market.
"What makes Withings separate in this market is the hardware: We create beautiful medical devices that have consumer-grade experience. They are medical devices at their heart, but we keep the consumer in mind. We also focus on the firmware. How can we automate and drive clinical intelligence into all the features that we have on our devices?"
He added, "We have developed a firmware for it to fit the healthcare ecosystem and what the healthcare ecosystem is looking for, which is data reliability. They're looking for efficiency and being able to scale their programs. They're also looking for this ability to capture better quality contextual data from that patient."
Sheehan also noted that Withings' software seamlessly communicates data back to healthcare organizations either through integrations or through cellular connectivity. "More and more, we're developing algorithms and analytics to support better medication optimization, better medication titration. What separates us is really thinking about this on multiple layers with the consumer in mind," he said.
Withings touts several benefits of its health monitoring devices. The intuitive, consumer-grade devices improve measurement compliance and data quality, the company says, and the tech enables automatic data transmission without requiring smartphones, apps or home Wi-Fi, so patients can take their measurements easily.
Providers can quickly read device data and notify members when it seems like their prescribed medication may not be working effectively, according to Withings.
The devices are easy to use for patients, and data from the devices seamlessly connect to the practices' online platform, Horan said. This provides a continuous view of patient health that supports more personalized, proactive and efficient care delivery.
The Body Pro smart scale also has a feature that enables members to step on the scale without seeing their numbers. "The ability to have it blinded for patients who don't want to look at their weight, or if stepping on a scale makes them anxious, the ability to transmit that information to us without having to deal with it themselves is appealing," Horan noted.
The blood pressure monitor is Bluetooth-enabled, which makes it easier to use for less tech-savvy patients, and its small size is convenient for patients to pack when traveling, Horan said.
“Delivering true connected care to hundreds of thousands of patients across our region depends on the reliability of technology capable of painting an accurate picture of patient health,” said Ethan Booker, M.D., chief medical officer for telehealth for MedStar Health and a MedStar Institute for Innovation leadership member. “We selected Withings devices because they offer a premium monitoring experience. Their sophisticated design, ease of use, and refined packaging reflect the level of care and attention our patients expect, while providing us with meaningful, timely health data.”
Through the Signature service, patients receive extended annual physical exams, detailed laboratory tests, leading-edge imaging studies and focused risk factor assessments and screenings. The service also aims to make care more convenient for patients with complimentary car service to and from appointments. Patients can see a doctor at the Chevy Chase medical practice or through virtual services in their homes, including in-home lab draws, according to the company's website.
Signature's care navigation assistance feature is a key benefit for patients, Horan said.
"We have patients who have multiple chronic conditions, and the idea of navigating our very complicated medical system is very daunting, or they have already been in the system and have faced obstacles to getting timely access to care. With Signature, the appeal is to have someone be the go-to person, a central place for you to come and we can schedule all of those for you. There's no going back and forth with the specialist's office playing phone tag. We basically coordinate with the specialists, whether they're within MedStar or if the patient already has a very good relationship with an external specialist. That takes a big load off, especially if patients have multiple specialists that they juggle," she said.