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The Cleveland Clinic is opening HealthSpot stations at Marc's stores in Mentor and Garfield Heights, where patients can have common illnesses diagnosed and treated virtually via a private videoconference. The stations use software that allows for blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and other vital signs to be taken remotely by doctors or nurses.
(Cleveland Clinic)
CLEVELAND, Ohio-- The Cleveland Clinic is now offering patients virtual appointments for minor illnesses in high-tech walk-in kiosks in the grocery store.
Through a partnership with Marc's locations in Mentor and Garfield Heights and HealthSpot--a company that provides a private, interactive computer- and video-based "appointment" with a medical provider off-site--patients will now be able to receive a doctor or nurse practitioner's advice on coughs, sore throats, fevers and other ailments and then go shop for chicken noodle soup and cough syrup.
Marc's is the first retailer in Ohio to offer the HealthSpot station. The stations will be at the Mentor location at 7353 Mentor Avenue, and the Garfield Heights location at 12650 Rockside Road. The Clinic also has HealthSpot stations at its Strongsville Family Health and Surgery Center and the Willoughby Hills Family Health Center.
The HealthSpot kiosk is a private 8-by-5-foot portable office, with a chair, a desktop with a touch screen and a video screen that allows patients to talk to a doctor who may be miles away in real-time. It is staffed by a medical attendant from the Clinic, who helps patients use the built-in stethoscope, thermometer, blood pressure cuff, scale and other devices, and sanitizes the office between patients.
Doctors and nurse practitioners can also write prescriptions remotely via HealthSpot.
The HealthSpot stations, created by Steve Cashman of Powell, Ohio, were designed by the Cleveland business innovation firm Nottingham Spirk. They were originally called Care4 Stations.
Last year, Cuyahoga County installed a kiosk at the Justice Center to allow County employees to receive care from MetroHealth physicians for some of the many conditions that often cause people to leave work or go to an urgent care or emergency room, such as fever, sore throats or earaches. University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital also opened a kiosk last year at Friendly Inn Settlement House.
Like an urgent care center, the Cleveland Clinic Marc's HealthSpot offers hours beyond a regular doctor's office-- from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Several health insurance companies currently cover the telehealth sessions like a regular office visit. Patients can also pay for their $49 visit through cash, check, credit and debit cards.
"We are pleased to provide another convenient and affordable option for our patients and community to access Cleveland Clinic care for minor, common illnesses," Dr. Brian Donley, president of Cleveland Clinic Community Hospitals and Family Health Centers said in a news release. "It is important for us to meet the growing needs of patients in regular, everyday settings, with extended hours to help make taking care of your health an achievable priority."