7,000 U.S. Tuberculosis Patients Across 700 Health Departments Reach 700,000 Medication Check-Ins with Scene Health

Baltimore, MD (March 24, 2023) - Today, on World Tuberculosis Day, Scene Health (formerly emocha Health) is proud to announce a milestone of 7,000 patients being supported and over 700,000 video check-ins submitted since 2013 across 700 public health departments in the U.S. including 14 states and territories and 5 of the ten largest counties by population. According to the CDC, 8,300 tuberculosis cases were reported in the U.S. in 2022.

Scene also recognizes the work of these 700 public health departments in making video-based Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) the standard of care for tuberculosis treatment in the U.S., permanently shifting the burden of care away from in-person care delivery and improving the ability of public health departments to disseminate treatment for a highly contagious disease that disproportionately impacts unhoused, rural, and incarcerated populations.

Scene has helped public health departments extend treatment to previously unreachable patients, secure over 90% adherence rates, avoid over 41.36 metric tons of CO2 emissions, and save as much as $100,531 per year.

“Scene was first created to help patients with TB and other infectious diseases,” said Morad Elmi, Scene’s Chief Strategy Officer. “Today, we celebrate our progress and continued commitment to ending TB.” 

Treatment for tuberculosis involves a 6-month course of antimicrobial medications with strict adherence requirements to achieve cure. Directly Observed Therapy (DOT), which requires a trained observer to watch as the patient swallows anti-TB medications, is the standard of care. But for vulnerable groups, DOT can be inconvenient and, at times, inaccessible — effectively limiting the availability of tuberculosis treatment for those that need it the most. 

Scene scales and enhances DOT with video technology. Available in over 20 languages, Scene’s video DOT platform enables healthcare providers to witness daily medication ingestion without in-person requirements. 

“[Scene’s] video DOT platform has been extremely helpful to our patients and staff since we began using it several years ago,” said Luke Celebrezze, a Health Provider with the Columbus Public Health Department. “Without it, it would be extremely challenging to see all of our patients on a daily basis for TB medical services.” 

In 2020, Scene received the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association's Joe Ware Partner Service Award for improving the dissemination of tuberculosis treatments. This year, three of Scene’s partner health departments have been named 2023 CDC U.S. TB Elimination Champions: Maureen Murphy-Weiss and Luke Celebrezze, Columbus Public Health Department; Amy Painter, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; and the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Service and Todu Guam Foundation.

ABOUT SCENE HEALTH

Scene (formerly emocha) brings healthcare professionals, patients, and their families together to solve the $500B medication nonadherence problem. Scene’s mobile app allows patients to connect with a care team of pharmacists, nurses, and health coaches through daily video check-ins anytime and anywhere. Scene currently delivers programs for Medicaid and Medicare MCOs, public health departments, and life science organizations covering multiple chronic and infectious conditions, including diabetes, asthma, cholesterol, opioid use disorder, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, hypertension, solid organ transplants, and sickle cell disease. Scene’s approach has been validated in more than 18 independent peer-reviewed publications.

‍Contact: Liz DeForest
Email: scene@theblissgrp.com

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