Teal Health, a company focused on virtual women’s health, announced a new partnership with Thatch Marketplace on Tuesday aimed at improving access to at-home cervical cancer screenings.
Thatch Marketplace is a platform that helps employers offer Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs). With ICHRAs, employers provide tax-free money to help employees buy their own health insurance plans. Some well-known Thatch clients include ADP, Jersey Mike’s, and Smoothie King.
Under the new partnership, Thatch’s employer customers can offer Teal Health’s at-home cervical cancer screening as an employee benefit through ICHRAs. Women who want to get screened can visit the Teal Health page on Thatch Marketplace, purchase a screening kit through their employer, and schedule a quick telehealth consultation with a Teal Health provider. After the consultation, patients will receive a screening kit in the mail, which includes the FDA-approved Teal Wand—a device for self-collecting a vaginal sample. Once they’ve taken the sample, they can mail it to the lab for testing. Results are delivered through the Teal Health portal, and patients can schedule a virtual follow-up appointment with a Teal provider if needed.
Kara Egan, CEO and co-founder of Teal Health, said in a statement, “We chose to partner with Thatch to make sure more employees can access life-saving screenings without the usual stress, time constraints, or discomfort that come with traditional care. This partnership gets us closer to our mission of making cervical cancer screenings more accessible and affordable.”
Although cervical cancer screenings are typically needed earlier in life than other cancer screenings, a lack of access means that one in three women are not up-to-date with their screenings, according to the company.
Egan added, “At Teal Health, we want to eliminate the barriers preventing women from staying on top of essential preventive care, like cervical cancer screenings. By using the Teal Wand, we can bring this service directly to women—whether at home or through their workplace benefits. Our goal is to help reduce cervical cancer as a public health concern in the U.S.”
ICHRAs are growing in popularity among employers as they look to cut costs and offer employees more flexibility. While data on ICHRA enrollment is limited, Centene CEO Sarah London recently called it the “future of individual health insurance.”
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