Cleveland Clinic, HealthSpot to expand healthcare access via walk-in kiosks

CLEVELAND — Cleveland Clinic and HealthSpot are looking to form a joint venture that will offer patients convenient, alternative options to access health care through HealthSpot's virtual walk-in kiosks.

 

HealthSpot stations — private, 8-by-5-foot enclosures outfitted with touch screens, integrated medical devices and videoconferencing capabilities — will enable Cleveland Clinic medical providers to see and treat patients in a variety of nontraditional healthcare settings, like universities, employers and retail locations. An on-site accredited medical assistant also supports each station.

"Healthcare innovation is essential to make care more accessible to patients. This relationship allows patients to utilize the latest technology to connect to Cleveland Clinic experts in a more convenient way," stated Toby Cosgrove, CEO and president of Cleveland Clinic. "This strengthens our ability to meet the growing needs of patients in everyday settings, delivering higher value for their healthcare dollar."

 

The HealthSpot station's two-way video screen delivers a face-to-face experience between patients and medical providers. An array of digital medical devices embedded in each unit — stethoscope, scale, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, thermometer, otoscope and dermascope — streams medical information to the provider and patient in real time.

 

Patients can walk up to a station without scheduling an appointment and be treated for minor, common health conditions, including cold and flu, rashes and skin conditions, eye conditions, earaches, sore throat, sinus infections, upper respiratory infections and seasonal allergies. HealthSpot station visits will fully integrate into a patient's Cleveland Clinic electronic medical record, ensuring seamless communication and continuity of care.

 

"Through the visionary leadership and partnership with a world-class health system like Cleveland Clinic, we have been able to accomplish our goal of extending the local healthcare eco-system out to patients. Together we will be researching the vast amount of new point-of-care technology and developing new ways to integrate that into our solution all while lowering costs and increasing access to quality healthcare for patients," added Steve Cashman, HealthSpot CEO.

 

Last May, Cleveland Clinic launched a one-year pilot of HealthSpot stations in three of its family health centers and received an overall 93% patient satisfaction score.

 

Cleveland Clinic has been offering patients second opinions remotely over the Internet with its MyConsult program since 2002. More recently, the hospital has been piloting a number of technologies in remote monitoring, home health, virtual visits, and other areas of telemedicine.