Cleveland Clinic forms joint venture with maker of walk-in kiosks

Cleveland Clinic and HealthSpot, a Dublin, Ohio-based company, have signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture that will allow more patients to receive care through the company's virtual walk-in kiosks.

The HealthSpot kiosks are private, 8-by-5-foot enclosures outfitted with touch screens, medical devices and videoconferencing capabilities. With the kiosks, the Clinic's medical providers will be able to see patients in nontraditional healthcare settings, including universities, employers and retail locations.

Each station is staffed by an on-site medical assistant. The kiosks will be integrated into the Clinic's electronic health record.

“Health care innovation is essential to make care more accessible to patients,” Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove said in a news release. “This relationship allows patients to utilize the latest technology to connect to Cleveland Clinic experts in a more convenient way. This strengthens our ability to meet the growing needs of patients in everyday settings, delivering higher value for their healthcare dollar.”

Last May, Cleveland Clinic launched a one-year pilot of HealthSpot stations in three of its family health centers and received an overall 93% patient satisfaction score. The new joint venture will allow the two partners to build on that success.

“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 health care eco-system out to patients,” HealthSpot CEO Steve Cashman said in the release. 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 health care for patients.”

University Hospitals and The MetroHealth System also have HealthSpot kiosks in select locations throughout Northeast Ohio.

"Cleveland Clinic forms joint venture with maker of walk-in kiosks" originally appeared on the Crain's Cleveland Business website.