DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens announced the rollout of Find Care Now, a digital platform and marketplace that helps connect the company’s millions of mobile and online visitors to health care services at Walgreens stores and to a growing selection of recognized providers in the community. The retailer is working closely with a current list of 17 participating providers as part of the effort, further enhancing Walgreens omnichannel role as a convenient and trusted neighborhood health care destination.
Find Care Now makes it easier for customers to navigate and search for local and digital health care services, with offerings in certain markets as varied as neighborhood health care clinics, urgent care, telehealth, lab testing, physician second opinions, and even physician house calls and optical and hearing services in selected markets.
“People expect accessible quality care that fits their busy lives, and this is another way in which we’re continually evolving our business to bring health care services closer to our patients,” said Richard Ashworth, president of operations at Walgreens. “Find Care Now is part of a series of innovations to offer a true omnichannel experience for Walgreens customers, as we work with others in the health care community to improve access to affordable health care services in the communities we serve.”
Find Care Now and its growing list of participating health care providers offer alternatives to more costly emergency room visits. These services include physicians or nurse practitioners at urgent care centers co-located at Walgreens drug stores, or at Walgreens stores that offer Healthcare Clinic or other provider retail clinic services. Other specialist offerings include behavioral health therapists, optometrists, dermatologists, hearing care professionals and diagnostic lab services in certain markets.
“Through market research, our customers showed they would welcome Walgreens as an online source of information about health care solutions and telemedicine,” said Giovanni Monti, vice president and director of health care innovation at Walgreens Boots Alliance. “By combining digital assets with our strong local footprint, Walgreens offers a unique and convenient model for patients to find care built around their needs. In addition, we have a growing number of provider health care collaborations and a product development road map that will soon add more valuable features to Find Care Now.”
Find Care Now is accessible through the Health Services section of the Walgreens mobile app and online at www.walgreens.com/findcarenow. Care service options are made available based upon a user’s location and health condition, ensuring convenient and relevant results are always offered. Users can view cash pricing information and also have the ability to schedule visits or complete virtual consultations in some markets.
The Walgreens Find Care Now marketplace includes the following health care providers across the U.S.:
• Advocate Health Care, Chicago.
• Baptist Health, Jacksonville, Fla.
• Community Health Network, Indianapolis.
• DermatologistOnCall, national online dermatology service.
• Florida Hospital, Orlando, Fla.
• Heal, on-demand doctor house calls in California; Washington, D.C.; and northern Virginia.
• LabCorp, lab testing and diagnostics.
• MDLIVE, national telehealth service.
• MedExpress Urgent Care, an Optum company and provider of neighborhood medical care.
• NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York.
• Piedmont Healthcare, Atlanta.
• Providence St. Joseph Health, including Providence Express Care in Portland, Ore., and Swedish Express Care in Seattle.
• SSM Health, St. Louis.
• UHealth – The University of Miami Health System, Miami.
• Walgreens Healthcare Clinics.
• Walgreens Hearing.
• Walgreens Optical.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Walgreens to expand access to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s world-class care through this convenient new platform, Find Care Now,” said Dr. Peter Fleischut, senior vice president and chief transformation officer at NewYork-Presbyterian. “Through NYP OnDemand, our suite of digital health services, NewYork-Presbyterian can reach more patients in need of our care and help make our communities healthier.”
“We want to put health care consumers in the driver’s seat. We believe that taking care of your health should be as convenient and flexible as any retail experience. Providence St. Joseph Health’s Express Care services, now offered through Walgreens Find Care Now and the Providence Health Connect app, make it easy to find and book care close to home or work,” said Dr. Sunita Mishra, chief executive at Express Care.
The Walgreens mobile app — now enhanced with easy, anytime, anywhere access to Find Care Now — has been downloaded more than 50 million times and has 5 million active users each month. The Walgreens app can be accessed at www.walgreens.com/topic/apps/learn_about_mobile_apps.jsp
The post Walgreens rolls out Find Care Now app appeared first on CDR – Chain Drug Review.