VSee Partners with Fruit Street – Changing Health Care Through TeleWellness

Fruit Street CEO, Laurence Girard with VSee CEO, Milton Chen at the ATA Conference

VSee has partnered with Fruit Street, a rising star in the new field of “telewellness.” Fruit Street brings together the newest telemedicine technology, wearable devices, and mobile applications to prevent and treat lifestyle-related disease.

In two years, Fruit Street has made impressive strides in launching and growing their platform and user base in this much needed area of health care. To date, it has raised over $5 million in funding from over 120 doctors and healthcare professionals, representing 15 different medical specialties including a health system CEO and insurance executive.

Fruit Street has also developed strong partnerships with Fitbit, Harvard Health Publications, and the University of Michigan, which uses Fruit Street in its adolescent weight management program.

Obesity is common, serious and costly

In a troubling study from 2014, the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) found that more than one-third of US adults (78.6 milion people) were obese. Serious medical conditions related to obesity include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. Yet, these are some of the most preventable causes of death.

Obesity can not only lead to serious health conditions, it’s also costly for everyone in terms of work productivity and health expenses. A 2008 study found that obesity in the US cost 147 billion US dollars a year, where on average, the medical costs for obese people were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. Since 2008, the cost of care has continued to raise at unabated rates.

Using Telehealth to Treat Obesity and Lifestyle-related Disease

Many medical conditions are due to lifestyle choices and can be prevented. For far too long, the norm has been for patients to see their medical doctors when they already have a problem — often, when the problem has become too big. Fruit Street aims to cut through traditional care by making it easy for doctors and patients to connect online and pursue wellness through proper diet, exercise, and regular monitoring.

This is why hundreds of doctors–and hundreds more patients–are grateful for Fruit Street. Patients can sync their Fitbit data with their Fruit Street platform, allowing their providers to track how they are reaching wellness goals. Patients can take a picture of their meals and upload it into their Fruit Street dashboard where their providers can give feedback. They can even have a face-to-face video visit with their providers without leaving their home.

To learn more, you can also check out these interviews on Yahoo Finance with Fruit Street CEO Laurence Girard