Dive Brief:
- Sam’s Club is partnering with digital health kiosk company higi to bring self-service screenings to 622 Sam’s Club locations nationwide that have pharmacies, MobiHealthNews reports.
- The screening stations — free to Sam’s Club members — allow users to check their pulse, blood pressure, weight and body mass index, and track and share information over time via an online platform.
- Users can also connect with and aggregate data from over health devices, activity trackers and apps, the company said.
Dive Insight:
The higi self-service station was rolled out Feb. 11 during Sam’s Club’s ‘Healthy at Heart’ screening and complements the company’s monthly health screening program that runs from January through October.
Consumer demand for convenient care and the drive to reduce healthcare costs through preventive care are fueling a rise in retail health clinics, screenings and mHealth services. There are currently about 2,000 retail clinics in the U.S., the majority owned and operated by large retailers such as CVS Health, Wal-Mart and Walgreens.
Last year, Walgreens teamed up with MDLIVE to offer telehealth services to the users of the drugstore chain’s mobile app in 25 states.
Founded in 2012, Chicago-based higi now runs close to 11,000 self-screening kiosks in has installed close to 11,000 FDA-cleared self-screening kiosks are in use in close to 11,000 U.S. stores. A 2014 agreement with Rite Aid brought kiosks to 4,100 pharmacies.