Rite Aid pharmacy and OptimumHealth now offer to the pharmacy’s clientele a virtual clinic. With this service patients not only are able to ask questions about their treatment to doctors and nurses, they can also get full consultations and prescriptions when needed. At the end of the consultation, a file is created and can be shared with the primary health care provider to maintain good communication and ensure continuity of care. Rite Aid has become the first retail pharmacy to offer such service in the US. By paying a fee, the patient can benefit from this service.
Even though this may seem as a great advantage for the patients, as well as the pharmacy, one think keeps me wondering. How accurate can these interventions be if the doctor is not physically performing auscultation of the patient? To me this is an essentially good idea with a few flaws. I think is great that patients can have access to physicians too, besides the pharmacist. But I also think that patients can misunderstand the service and think of it as a substitute for primary care.
From my standpoint, I think Rite Aid Pharmacy is assuming a vulnerable position full of liabilities. By trying to expand the offerings to their patients, they are becoming even more prone to liabilities. This approach to technology implementation on patient care is, without any doubt, innovating and with the right implementation can be really useful and attractive to the public.
More information can be found on: http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=C5C3A0CF661C4C62B158CDF5351E414B
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