Consumer health app iTriage is providing mobile appointment scheduling for Walgreen Co.'s Take Care Health Systems clinics in two major markets in a pilot program announced Wednesday.

People in the Chicago and Denver areas can now tap their smartphones to make appointments at Take Care Clinic with the free iTriage app for iPhones and Android, and get an immediate confirmation. The same service works online in those markets—the home towns of Denver-based iTriage and Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens—through iTriage's Web portal.

The service is available for 13 Walgreens clinics in the Denver area and 41 in and around Chicago. While online scheduling currently only works in those markets, iTriage has listings of all Take Care Clinics locations nationwide, according to iTriage spokeswoman Suzy Buglewicz.

Buglewicz tells MobiHealthNews that the iTriage database includes essentially every physician, hospital and clinic in the U.S., though some providers pay to be listed higher and include more information about their services. Patients can use the iTriage platform to check in at the emergency departments at certain hospitals, similar to the new service at Take Care Clinics.

"Today’s consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to access health care information and services, wherever they are and whenever they need it," Heather Helle, divisional vice president for Walgreens Consumer Solutions Group, says in a press release. "Integrating with the mobile and online appointment-setting technology of iTriage allows us to provide our patients with another tool to help them better manage their personal healthcare."

iTriage, which has been owned by Aetna since last year, also offers a symptom-checking service and healthcare provider finder through its app and website.

"Consumers expect more control and convenience when accessing healthcare information and services, and iTriage is empowering patients to make more informed decisions," iTriage CEO and co-founder Dr. Peter Hudson says in the release.

Hudson indicated that iTriage will expand the online scheduling service if the pilot proves successful. Buglewicz says future markets have not been determined.