emocha Health Awarded Video Directly Observed Therapy Contract by Texas Department of State Health Services

BALTIMORE, Oct. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Texas Department of State Health Services awarded emocha Health the contract for statewide provision of mobile video directly observed therapy (video DOT) to tuberculosis (TB) patients.

emocha Health has supported health departments and their patients across Texas for more than six years. emocha, a Johns Hopkins spin-out, began its work in Texas with a pilot of its video DOT application in Harris County. After proving successful, emocha became a partner to many of the state's largest city and county-managed health departments.

Adherence to TB medication regimens is a public health priority. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas reached out to all potential Video DOT providers it was aware of, including emocha Health, to provide additional emergency video DOT support to rural TB patients statewide.  emocha's subsequent work was so successful that the state sought to maintain a video DOT program and released a Request for Proposal (RFP). After a competitive review process, emocha won a four-year statewide TB services contract.

"We're honored to have received both the new contract and the highest rating for vendor performance by the state of Texas," said Morad Elmi, VP of Strategic Partnerships and Co-Founder of emocha Health. "While many public health priorities had to shift to the novel coronavirus, tuberculosis remains a global threat. Video DOT allows health departments to stretch precious resources as they work to eliminate TB and help prevent other diseases."

With the addition of the state-wide Texas contract, emocha Health is now delivering video DOT to over 500 public health departments across the United States.

How emocha's approach to video DOT works
Traditional DOT requires that a healthcare worker observe a patient taking their medication, in person, every day. Long considered the gold standard of TB therapy, in-person DOT has been scaled by emocha into video DOT to help save public health resources and ease travel and time requirements for both patients and providers.

Patients use emocha's HIPAA-compliant mobile app to video record themselves taking their medication, report potential side effects or symptoms, and communicate with their care team. The emocha app comes in over 20 languages and can also be used for livestream video appointments. Care teams use emocha's web platform to track dose-by-dose medication adherence, view patient and population level analytics, and engage with patients using both synchronous and asynchronous video.

About emocha Health
emocha is tackling one of the biggest unsolved problems in healthcare: medication non-adherence. emocha's Digital Medication Adherence Program empowers patients to take every dose of medication properly using video technology and scalable human engagement. emocha partners with health plans, health systems, employers, and health departments across the country to radically improve adherence for patients with diabetes, asthma, tuberculosis, and other chronic and infectious diseases.

SOURCE emocha Health