Kaiser Permanente members may now access Headspace Health's Ginger as part of Kaiser's digital self-care portfolio, providing on-demand, text-based coaching without a referral.

Ginger's mental health and addiction care offerings will include emotional support coaches available to all of Kaiser's eligible adult members via their smartphone 24/7 with no appointment.

"Kaiser Permanente selected Ginger to help provide nonclinical emotional support coaching and expand the continuum of digital mental health tools we make available at no cost to all eligible adult members," Dr. Don Mordecai, psychiatrist and national leader for mental health and wellness at Kaiser Permanente, said in a statement. 

"The Ginger offering sits between our self-care offerings and our clinical care, providing personalized text-based support from trained Ginger coaches to our members in the moment when they need it the most, anytime day or night."

Ginger is the latest addition to Kaiser's digital self-care offerings. In 2020, the company added the first two apps to its portfolio: Calm, a tool for mindfulness meditation, and myStrength, designed to improve people's wellbeing and enhance sleep or mood.

Digital oncology platform Jasper Health and Scripps Research announced a long-term partnership to advance the body of literature on improving the lives and outcomes of cancer patients.

The research will focus on biometrics data's role in cancer and on how digital and human-led cancer care navigation and support can affect the quality of life and longitudinal patient outcomes.

Scripps Research Digital Trials Center scientists will apply their informatics and machine learning expertise to perform analyses on de-identified patient data.

"We're delighted to partner with Jasper Health to further our collective understanding of how multimodal data collection can assist in patient support and improved outcomes," Katie Baca-Motes, senior director of strategic initiatives at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center, said in a statement.

With the help of Zipline, an instant logistics and delivery company, Intermountain Healthcare patients can now receive drone deliveries of prescriptions and medical products, including over-the-counter medications, in the Salt Lake Valley area. 

The partnership will help Zipline's Utah delivery system expand, eventually being capable of delivering to more than one million people over the next five years with its fully electric, autonomous aircrafts. 

"This partnership allows us to reach patients faster than we ever thought possible, at a time that's convenient for them," Gordon Slade, associate vice president of supply chain logistics at Intermountain Healthcare, said in a statement. 

"Combined with our telehealth services like Connect Care, it's possible to virtually see a doctor and get medication you need delivered from Zipline, without having to travel to a clinic or the hospital."

Over time, the companies anticipate expanding beyond the Salt Lake Valley area to serve other regions in Utah.

BeMe Health, a mental health company with offerings designed for teens, announced the launch of tailored content for Spanish-speaking teens. 

The offering is aimed to help teens manage or identify stress, deal with environmental stressors, navigate life transitions, boost their mood, cope with first-generation stresses and celebrate their culture. 

The company also announced a collaborative effort between BeMe and the California Health Care Foundation to deliver culturally appropriate digital support to Hispanic youth nationwide. 

"BeMe's digital health application offers access to much-needed services, particularly for Latino/x youth, who are more likely to need mental health services and less likely to receive them. In the face of a worsening mental health crisis, we are committed to partnering with companies like BeMe to bolster the delivery of these vital services to youth enrolled in Medicaid," Ella Schwartz, senior program investment officer at the California Health Care Foundation, said in a statement.