As part of its overall effort to reduce health care costs and improve access to medical services, the Mayo Clinic announced last week a new telemedicine pilot project involving private kiosks, reports indicate.
The pilot, called Mayo Clinic Health Connection, will be offered through its HealthSpot platform, which includes cloud-based software combined with a private walk-in kiosk to care for patients in their places of work.
“You’ll avoid waiting and time away from work, and still get the continuity of care you need from people you trust,” Matt Bernard, Southeast Minnesota region Primary Care Service Line chair, said in a statement. “This should decrease absenteeism, lower costs and increase wellness, a win-win for employers and employees when fully deployed.”
Doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants from both Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System will meet with patients who can visit the kiosk with no appointment required.
The walk-in kiosk will provide “high-definition videoconferencing and interactive, digital medical devices,” according to Mayo Clinic, enabling physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to see and treat patients, virtually face-to-face, in “a variety of nontraditional health care settings.”
Patients can be treated for minor, common health conditions, such as cold, earaches, sore throat, sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, rashes and skin conditions, and eye conditions.
The system will be piloted with Mayo Clinic Health System employees in Albert Lea and Austin, Minn., before potentially being deployed to other local employers.
Written by Emily Study
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