Telemedicine kiosk supplier HealthSpot has rolled out its first 25 kiosks in RiteAid convenience stores and pharmacies throughout Northeast Ohio, according to a Cleveland Plain-Dealer report.
HealthSpot and RiteAid announced plans to collaborate in November, prior to which HealthSpot was piloting kiosks with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic. "We always wanted to be in pharmacies, but doctors wanted to see that it worked like we said it did first," Steve Cashman, founder and CEO of HealthSpot, told The Plain-Dealer. "They tested them for more than a year and saw that people liked it and the doctors liked it. We got reports of 98 percent patient satisfaction and 99 percent doctor satisfaction."
The kiosks are approximately 40-square-feet and connect patients to healthcare providers through videoconferencing and interactive medical devices, including stethoscopes, otoscopes, magnascopes and a pulse oximeter. Providers coach patients on how to properly use the devices, and the statistics and information are transmitted to the provider for real-time analysis.
The deployment of these 25 kiosks is just the first step, as Mr. Cashman has plans for a nationwide presence.
"Our goal is to put these kiosks all across the United States," Mr. Cashman told The Plain-Dealer. "We want them to be as prominent as ATMs."
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