If you live in Detroit, and you need to go to the doctor, you now have a new option: a computer screen in Rite Aid.
When patients walk into a NowClinic at any one of nine Detroit-area Rite Aid pharmacies, they can choose among multiple physicians to see about what’s ailing them. Not see in person. See on a computer monitor.
What’s going on at these Rite Aids is a merger of multiple trends focused on providing more convenience to patients than, presumably, a physician’s office can deliver. Neither telemedicine nor retail clinics are new — but combining them is.
The services offered at Rite Aid are the same as for the online NowClinic: treatment of allergies, bladder infection, bronchitis, cough and cold, diarrhea, fever, insomnia, nausea, pink eye, rash, seasonal flu, sinus infection, sore throat and viral illness. There’s no charge for virtual consultations with a nurse, who also can advise patients whether a doctor visit is warranted.
Photo by Luis Louro/ShutterStock.