MinuteClinic Seals Telehealth Deal with Cleveland Clinic
MinuteClinic patients in Ohio can now virtually visit Cleveland Clinic clinicians through American Well’s telehealth platform.
MinuteClinic patients in Ohio can now virtually visit Cleveland Clinic clinicians through American Well’s telehealth platform.
This partnership is significant in that it’s the first time Cleveland Clinic providers will be available to MinuteClinic customers in Ohio via telehealth, according to Ido Schoenberg, MD, chairman and CEO of American Well, one of the largest telehealth vendors.
“This is the future of telemedicine—or simply, medicine,” Dr. Schoenberg stated.
How Does It Work?
When a MinuteClinic practitioner is seeing a patient and deems it necessary for the patient to consult a primary care clinician at Cleveland Clinic for nonemergency urgent care needs, a virtual visit can be arranged in about 5 to 10 minutes during working hours, although the health system is also looking to set up around-the-clock access.
Patients can expect to pay about $50 for a mobile consultation, on top of the cost of seeing a MinuteClinic practitioner.
“Our long-term view of telehealth is that it’s not only a new, welcome service that we can offer our existing patients, but it’s a way for Cleveland Clinic to extend our reach and serve more people who need help,” stated Peter Rasmussen, the health system’s medical director of distance health. “We believe that it is important to remove barriers to great care like time, travel and distance, and we’re making that possible through this partnership in Ohio.”
Andrew Sussman, MD, executive vice president and associate chief medical officer at CVS Health and president of MinuteClinic, added “telehealth further expands on our high-quality and convenient service to our customers.”
Last August, CVS Health announced that it would partner with 3 telehealth companies—American Well, Doctor on Demand, and Teladoc—as part of an expansion of its direct-to-consumer telehealth strategy.
MinuteClinic already boasts 1000 locations offering telehealth services in 32 states, according toFierceHealthIT. By next year, the number of sites is expected to grow to 1500. During those consultations, however, patients are seen by other available MinuteClinic providers.
