HealthSpot, a Dublin, Ohio-based company building telemedicine kiosks for workplace and retail locations, has raised $8 million from undisclosed investors, bringing the current raise, which began in March 2013, to $18 million total. This is the company's first round since 2012 and brings their total known funding to $23 million.
HealthSpot kiosks are designed for supermarkets, pharmacies, and healthcare facility waiting rooms. The kiosks are fully enclosed to provide a private setting for its remote care services. Patients using the kiosk can visit with doctors in real-time via high-definition videoconferencing. Update: While the company inked a deal at HIMSS 2012 with Sprint to run the video chat service over the mobile carrier's 4G network, HealthSpot tells MobiHealthNews that partnership has since been severed and the kiosks no longer run over cellular networks.
The kiosks come equipped with digital medical devices that allow doctors to collect health information during the remote visits, specifically a blood pressure cuff, thermometer, stethoscope, dermoscope, and otoscope as well as a built-in weight scale.
The company's board includes former Cleveland Clinic CEO Floyd Loop and Cardinal Health SVP Christi Pedra.
"Patients visit the HealthSpot Station for a variety of primary and acute care conditions that are commonly treated in a doctor's office or urgent care care setting," the company writes on its site. "These include colds and flu, minor illnesses, skin conditions, allergies, infections and more. Patients can either schedule an appointment online or in person, and choose how they would like to receive valuable, convenient follow-up care afterwards."
The company doesn't employ its own staff of physicians, but instead works with existing healthcare providers to extend their reach via the kiosks. At present, the business is still in the pilot phase, with various deployments around Ohio. HealthSpot kiosks have been deployed in the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in Cleveland, Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and University Hospitals in Cleveland. The company has also campaigned for telehealth reimbursement legislation in Ohio, culminating in the signing of Ohio House Bill 123 last January. The law will make it easier for telehealth care in Ohio to be reimbursed by Medicare.
The company has pursued a partnership-heavy strategy, most recently teaming up with MedAvail Technologies, a company making telepharmacy kiosks, in January. The agreement will initially allow the two companies to co-locate their kiosks, so that a customer can get a prescription from a HealthSpot physician and immediately pick it up at a MedAvail kiosk. In the future, the technology might be integrated into a single offering.
A HealthSpot spokesperson told MobiHealthNews the funding would be used to grow the company. According to the HealthSpot website, the company is currently seeking to hire project managers, software and web developers, sales executives, and a chief medical officer.
