May 21 2014
Cleveland Clinic and HealthSpot have entered into a letter of intent to form a joint venture that will offer patients convenient, alternative options to access healthcare through technology and 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. Each station is also supported by an on-site accredited medical assistant.
“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,” said Toby Cosgrove, M.D., Chief Executive Officer 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 high-definition video screen delivers a unique 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 conveniently 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,” said Steve Cashman, HealthSpot CEO.
Last May, Cleveland Clinic launched a successful one-year pilot of HealthSpot stations in three of its family health centers and received an overall 93 percent patient satisfaction score.
Cleveland Clinic continues to build upon its culture of collaboration and innovation, which has allowed for the integration of distance health/telemedicine initiatives into its clinical practice for years, providing high quality, value and efficiency of care to patients. 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.
About HealthSpot
HealthSpot is pioneering patient and provider healthcare technology with a comprehensive, patent-pending system called the HealthSpot station which enables patients’ convenient access to medical diagnostics from board-certified doctors via high-definition videoconferencing and interactive, digital telehealth tools. An innovative approach to the integration of telehealth and acute care, HealthSpot uses digital technology to empower doctors and specialists to provide care that is smarter, simpler and within anyone’s reach. For more information on HealthSpot, go to www.healthspot.net
The HealthSpot name and logo are registered marks of HealthSpot, Inc. All rights reserved. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation’s best hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” survey. More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals, more than 75 Northern Ohio outpatient locations, including 16 full-service Family Health Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, currently under construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2012, there were 5.1 million outpatient visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 130 countries. Visit us at www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.