Teal Health and Thatch Partner to Bring At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening to Employee Benefits

Teal Health, developer of the first FDA-authorized self-collection device for cervical cancer screening, has launched its at-home services on the Thatch Marketplace. The partnership enables employees to use tax-free healthcare dollars via Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs) to purchase Teal’s screening kits, removing the need for in-clinic exams and expanding access to preventive care for working-age women.

The initiative targets a long-standing gap in cervical cancer prevention. Screening spans roughly four decades of a woman’s working life, yet nearly one-third of U.S. women remain overdue due to limited time, access challenges, or discomfort with the traditional speculum exam. Teal reports that more than half of its early users were behind on screening, and nearly 20% had never been screened—suggesting that at-home options may reach women who have historically deferred care.

At the centre of the offering is the Teal Wand™, the first FDA-authorized device for vaginal self-collection. The end-to-end experience combines telehealth, hardware, and laboratory testing. A user begins with a virtual visit, receives the at-home kit, completes self-collection, and sends the sample to a lab for HPV testing using the same diagnostics used in clinical settings. Results are delivered via a secure portal, and patients with high-risk findings are connected to a provider to guide next steps. The method is now included in the American Cancer Society’s 2025 screening guidelines as an accurate alternative to in-person exams.

Teal’s integration with Thatch reflects a broader shift in how employers fund new health technologies. Thatch’s ICHRA model decouples insurance from employers and instead allocates tax-free allowances employees can spend on preferred services. This structure enables access to preventive innovations without waiting for widespread insurance adoption. As the announcement put it, “Employees can use tax-free dollars for new preventive care innovations that fit their schedule and preferences.”

For Teal Health, embedding at-home cervical cancer screening into employee benefits represents a significant distribution milestone. “Women want care that is simple, private, and built around their real lives,” said Kara Egan, CEO and Co-founder of Teal Health. “This partnership makes that possible for even more employees.”

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