Walgreens has expanded its relationship with telehealth service provider MDLive, bringing remote physician access to customers in three new states and, for the first time, to PCs as well as mobile devices.
Users of Walgreens mobile apps and the walgreens.com portal in Colorado, Illinois and Washington state now can consult 24/7 with board-certified MDLive physicians for $49 per encounter, the two companies announced Tuesday.
Walgreens and MDLive first launched their collaboration in California and Michigan last December. Plans are to expand to a total of 25 states by the end of 2015.
When the two companies started working together, the service was only available through Walgreens’ iOS or Android apps. Now, customers in participating states can chat with MDLive physicians from Web browsers on desktop and laptop computers.
“MDLive and Walgreens share a commitment to offering consumers more choice for convenient, quality and cost-effective care, and we look forward to working together to roll out our services in more states and more communities throughout the year,” Randy Parker, CEO of Sunrise, Fla.-based MDLive said in a joint press release.
“Our society truly values anytime, anywhere convenience. And with a growing need for access to affordable healthcare services, we believe telehealth solutions can play an important role in helping to improve patient outcomes and continues our mission to provide a seamless, omni-channel digital health experience,” Walgreens digital health chief Adam Pelligrini added.
The MDLive telehealth service goes beyond what Walgreens offers at its walk-in Healthcare Clinic locations in that the clinics are staffed by nurse practitioners, not physicians. Also, MDLive doctors are available remotely at any time for a wider range of health conditions.
