Dive Brief:
- Two partnerships placing kiosks in public places were announced this week at the American Telemedicine Association's 2014 conference, according to mHealthNews.
- The Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser Permanente have each struck a deal with Dublin, OH-based telehealth company HealthSpot to put kiosks designed to connect patients with providers in non-traditional health care settings.
- The kiosks offer consumers a private videoconference with the doctor, and include access to diagnostic tools and EMRs. They will be positioned everywhere from large businesses and retail locations to clinics and even some hospital EDs.
Dive Insight:
The idea behind these kiosks, HealthSpot vice president of marketing Lisa Maughan told mHealthNews, is to pull people out of waiting rooms, enable quicker care for conditions that don't require face-to-face visits with the doctor and free up clinicians' time to deal with more acute cases. If placing these kiosks actually does avoid the need for physician or ED visits, it seems likely they can lead to significant cost savings. However, it remains to be seen whether consumers will actually use them or not.