NewYork-Presbyterian and Walgreens are collaborating to bring convenient access to NewYork-Presbyterian’s care through new telemedicine services, now available through Walgreens digital properties and at self-service kiosks at select Duane Reade drugstores in New York. NewYork-Presbyterian is offering the telemedicine services as part of its NYP OnDemand suite of digital health services.
The first NewYork-Presbyterian NYP OnDemand kiosk is currently available at the Duane Reade location at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan, with additional locations expected to open in 2018. These kiosks, located in private, secure rooms inside the stores, offer instant examination, diagnosis, and treatment of non-life threatening illnesses and injuries through NYP OnDemand Urgent Care.
With the touch of a button, patients can reach board-certified Weill Cornell Medicine emergency medicine physicians, who provide exams through a high-definition video-conference connection. At the end of the examination, if the physician writes a prescription, it can be instantly sent to the patient’s preferred pharmacy. Pediatric emergency medicine physicians will also be available to provide care during more limited hours. Physicians from ColumbiaDoctors are expected to participate in early 2018.
In addition to the in-store kiosks, Walgreens customers in the New York area using the Walgreens website can access NYP OnDemand Urgent Care to video chat with board-certified emergency medicine doctors.
The kiosk experience is further enhanced with medical devices to provide key information to the physician during the virtual visit. These include a forehead thermometer that measures temperature with a gentle swipe of the forehead, a blood pressure cuff to measure blood pressure, and a pulse oximeter that measures the amount of oxygen in the body. A dermascope, which allows the provider to see a high-resolution view of skin conditions, is also available.
Visit times are expected to take about 10 to 20 minutes but will vary depending on the patient’s individual needs. The urgent care service is designed to care for non-life threatening conditions, illnesses, and injuries such as: Sore throat, allergies, rash, pink eye, abdominal pain, asthma, cold or the flu, dizziness, fever, and sprains.
