Digital health · Pediatric telemedicine
Blueberry Pediatrics
A subscription pediatric service that mails families a digital ear scope, a pulse oximeter and a thermometer, then treats children by chat, phone and video around the clock. It began as an $18 a month membership and now sells to Medicaid plans in Illinois, Nevada and Texas.
A picture of an eardrum, taken by a parent
The kit is three objects in a box. A flexible ear scope on a cable that plugs into a phone or a laptop. A finger clip that reads pulse and oxygen saturation. A thermometer with a bendable tip.
A child wakes at two in the morning pulling at one ear. The parent opens the app, threads the scope in, records a few seconds of video, and clips the oximeter onto a finger or, for a small toddler, a big toe. Vitals and video go up with the message.
The company is exact about the condition attached to that workflow: “In order to treat ear infections, Blueberry’s Pediatricians require video of your child’s ear drums.” No video, no ear infection diagnosis. That decision is what separates Blueberry from webcam telemedicine, and it carries the most clinical weight.
The gap it is aimed at
Pediatric emergency department visits run at nearly one per infant per year and average more than $1,100 apiece, figures Fierce Healthcare reported in February 2026. Blueberry says about 75% of its visits are after hours.
The plans buying it describe the same hole. Meridian said 30% of the 36,000 dependents in its Illinois YouthCare program for children in state care are aged five or under. CareSource Nevada noted that about 27% of the state’s rural population is on Medicaid.
What the published research says about this exact model
In 2019 Kristin Ray and colleagues published a matched analysis of 4,604 direct-to-consumer telemedicine visits, 38,408 urgent care visits and 485,201 primary care visits for acute respiratory illness in children. Antibiotics were prescribed at 52% of telemedicine visits, 42% of urgent care visits and 31% of primary care visits. Management matched clinical guidelines in 59%, 67% and 78% respectively. Among children diagnosed with streptococcal pharyngitis, 4% of the telemedicine group had a strep test, against 75% in urgent care and 68% in primary care.
A 2024 follow-up in JAMA Network Open separated technology from setting. Telemedicine delivered by a child’s own primary care practitioner carried a 28.9% antibiotic rate; commercial direct-to-consumer vendors carried 37.2%. The modality was not the problem. Being outside the medical home was.
The 2019 authors named the mechanism: “These issues reduce the data available to the treating DTC telemedicine provider, which may be of greater concern in pediatric care because of the more limited availability of children to communicate symptoms.” Blueberry’s kit is a direct answer to that sentence. Whether it closes the gap is an empirical question, and nobody has published the answer for this company.
Four founders and two handovers
Blueberry Medical went through Y Combinator in Winter 2018 with the line it still uses: “24/7 pediatric clinic in every family’s living room”. Founder records list Harrison Gordon, Jonathan Kahan MD, Lyndsey Garbi MD and Sean Miller.
Garbi, a pediatrician and neonatologist, is chief medical officer and the authorized official and owner on both clinical entities in the federal provider registry. Kahan, a cardiologist, was chief medical officer at launch and is now chief strategy officer. In August 2025 Rich Berner, former chief executive of MDLive, became CEO; Mike Waters, former chief operating officer of Teladoc Health, became executive chairman; Gordon moved to president.
From membership to Medicaid
Blueberry launched publicly in March 2021 in six states at $18 a month plus a $100 kit fee. Its 2023 Virginia post listed 24 states, its May 2024 help centre listed 29, and its current FAQ says “Blueberry is available in all 50 states plus DC!”
The payer business arrived alongside. Meridian ran an Illinois pilot from March 2024 and expanded it that November with more than 2,400 enrolled. Aetna Better Health of Illinois signed for Cook County in January 2026, CareSource Nevada in February, Community Health Choice in Texas in May, SilverSummit in Nevada in June. In August 2026 the company was ranked 840th on the Inc. 5000.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Device status | No 510(k), PMA or FDA device registration under the Blueberry name in openFDA searches, Sep 2026. The kit uses off the shelf hardware: otoscopes are product code ERA, Class I under 21 CFR 874.4770; pulse oximeters are DQA, Class II under 21 CFR 870.2700. | Public record |
| Clinical entity | NPPES lists Blueberry Medical PA, NPI 1396201752, enumerated Feb 11, 2019, taxonomy Pediatrics, and Blueberry Medical of New Jersey PA, NPI 1982296711, Feb 3, 2021. Lyndsey Garbi MD is the authorized official on both. | Public record |
| Clinician licensure | Plan releases and the company site say care comes from board-certified pediatricians. No state by state licence roster is published. | Company-stated |
| Prescribing evidence for the category | Ray et al, Pediatrics, Apr 2019: 52% of pediatric direct-to-consumer telemedicine visits for acute respiratory illness ended in an antibiotic, against 31% in primary care. Wittman et al, JAMA Network Open, Mar 2024: 37.2% for direct-to-consumer vendors against 28.9% inside primary care. | Peer reviewed |
| Blueberry’s own outcomes | No registered trial and no peer-reviewed study of its diagnostic accuracy, prescribing or outcomes found as of Sep 23, 2026. | Not found |
| Emergency department savings | Three figures in company materials. The Y Combinator listing says Blueberry “has proven to reduce ER costs by 50%”. The health plans page says “In a recent partnership we saw this high utilization drive a 40% ER cost reduction.” A partner page says “Blueberry diverts 95% of pediatric ED and urgent care visits”. No analysis is published. | Claims differ |
| Risk sharing | The Aetna Better Health of Illinois announcement says Blueberry “guarantees its fees against emergency department costs” and that “If the program’s savings do not exceed its fees, Blueberry will reimburse Aetna Better Health of Illinois.” Terms are not public. | Partner-stated |
| Scale | No. 840 on the 2026 Inc. 5000, ranked on 2022 to 2025 revenue growth with a $2 million minimum for 2025. It also calls itself “the largest pediatric medical practice in the US”, uncounted. | Ranking |
Read plainly: the regulatory record is clean and thin. There is no device to clear, because Blueberry does not make the devices, and no trial because none has been registered. What exists is a real clinical corporation staffed by pediatricians, Medicaid contracts, and savings numbers stated three ways without the analysis behind them. The one measurement that would settle the argument has not been published.
What to watch
- Any published analysis of prescribing at Blueberry visits, especially for acute otitis media, measured against the Ray and Wittman benchmarks.
- Whether the emergency department figure settles at 40%, 50% or 95%, and whether a plan publishes its own claims analysis.
- The at-risk contracts. A renewed fee guarantee is a harder signal than any press release.
- A state by state licensure disclosure behind the all 50 states plus DC claim.
- Whether the hires from MDLive, Teladoc and Allscripts precede a priced round or a sale.
In their words
“Blueberry transforms the family home into a virtual urgent care center, with at-home medical devices and unlimited 24/7 access to pediatricians via text, call, or video.”
Matthew Maurer, WVV Capital, 2022 investor post · Investor
“As a doctor and a father myself, I know firsthand the anxiety that comes from caring for your sick child.”
Jonathan Kahan MD, co-founder, March 2021 launch release · Company release
“Using Blueberry’s home medical kit, we have better insight for diagnosis, and can speed up decisions about when to escalate treatment”
Lyndsey Garbi MD, chief medical officer, March 2021 · Company release
“With Blueberry’s medical kit and our team of board-certified pediatricians, we can manage more conditions virtually, keep children out of the emergency room and deliver better outcomes for families.”
Lyndsey Garbi MD, Aetna Better Health of Illinois announcement, January 2026 · Partner release
“Nevada represents the ultimate challenge in health care access. It shows us that if we rely only on traditional office visits, too many kids get left behind”
Rich Berner, CEO, CareSource Nevada announcement, February 2026 · Partner release
“Often we see families bring their children to an emergency room for care for a variety of ailments, including colds and flus that can easily be treated with a diagnosis by a pediatrician via telemedicine”
Rutu Ezhuthachan MD, chief medical officer, Meridian Health Plan of Illinois, November 2024 · Plan release
“I think it also is important to make sure the quality of the care that children receive remains high”
Kristin Ray MD, University of Pittsburgh, on her 2019 study, ScienceDaily · Independent
Related companies
Sources
- Public recordNPPES NPI Registry, Blueberry Medical PA and Blueberry Medical of New Jersey PA
- Public recordopenFDA device classification, 510(k) and registration searches
- Public recordSEC EDGAR full text and company search, no Form D found
- Peer reviewedAntibiotic Prescribing During Pediatric Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine Visits
- Peer reviewedAntibiotic Receipt for Pediatric Telemedicine Visits With Primary Care vs Direct-to-Consumer Vendors
- IndependentStudy: Children prescribed unnecessary antibiotics by commercial telemedicine providers
- IndependentPediatric telemedicine visits may increase antibiotic overprescribing
- IndependentCarrot teams up with Blueberry Pediatrics for on-demand telehealth access
- IndependentCareSource aiming to keep kids healthy with 24/7 virtual care
- InvestorWVV’s Investment in Blueberry Pediatrics
- PlanMeridian Health Plan of Illinois offers telehealth for its YouthCare members
- PlanAetna Better Health of Illinois and Blueberry Pediatrics team up in Cook County
- PlanCareSource Nevada and Community Health Choice partnership announcements
- CompanyBlueberry Pediatrics launches to give parents a “Pediatrician in Their Pocket”
- CompanyLeadership team and Inc. 5000 announcements
- CompanyFAQ, medical kit, health plans and data insights pages
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
