The HealthSpot station is an 8x5-foot, ADA-compliant mobile kiosk that lets patients access a network of board-certified physicians through interactive videoconferencing and medical devices, such as stethoscopes, scanners, and thermometers. From that information, the remote doctors can make diagnoses and prescribe advice and medicine.
“We’re bringing the doctor to the patient,” says Steve Cashman, CEO and Founder of Dublin, Ohio-based HealthSpot, which launched its first station at the Consumer Electronics Show last December.
As of mid-October, about a dozen HealthSpots were in use. Eight healthcare systems in Minnesota, Miami, San Diego, and Ohio—including the prestigious Cleveland Clinic—were making caregivers available. Customers can be treated for common health conditions—colds and flu, rashes and skin conditions, eye conditions, earaches, and seasonal allergies.
On November 10, pharmacy chain Rite Aid announced that it had entered into an agreement with HealthSpot to install stations at select Rite Aid locations in the Akron/Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton/Springfield markets in Ohio.
The HealthSpot station was designed by Cleveland-based architectural firm Nottingham Spirk. Bill Nottingham, a Principal, says the station had to be portable, but not so small as to feel claustrophobic. An arched ceiling gives the pod some breathing room
Ohio-based Commercial Vehicle Group, a manufacturer of truck cabs, makes the stations. The units are shipped in pieces and reassembled on site. HealthSpot is providing the units to client locations for a one-time implementation fee to cover the installation, plus a monthly maintenance and licensing fee. Cashman estimates the stations are profitable when they handle at least six patients a day.
Cashman says he plans to place another 100 HealthSpots into the market in early 2015. He says he envisions them being installed on college campuses, in retail malls, and in assisted living facilities.
Read about more innovations from BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report
Related Stories
Museums | Aug 11, 2010
Design guidelines for museums, archives, and art storage facilities
This column diagnoses the three most common moisture challenges with museums, archives, and art storage facilities and provides design guidance on how to avoid them.
| Aug 11, 2010
Broadway-style theater headed to Kentucky
One of Kentucky's largest performing arts venues should open in 2011—that's when construction is expected to wrap up on Eastern Kentucky University's Business & Technology Center for Performing Arts. The 93,000-sf Broadway-caliber theater will seat 2,000 audience members and have a 60×24-foot stage proscenium and a fly loft.
| Aug 11, 2010
Citizenship building in Texas targets LEED Silver
The Department of Homeland Security's new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Irving, Texas, was designed by 4240 Architecture and developed by JDL Castle Corporation. The focal point of the two-story, 56,000-sf building is the double-height, glass-walled Ceremony Room where new citizens take the oath.
| Aug 11, 2010
Carpenters' union helping build its own headquarters
The New England Regional Council of Carpenters headquarters in Dorchester, Mass., is taking shape within a 1940s industrial building. The Building Team of ADD Inc., RDK Engineers, Suffolk Construction, and the carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, is giving the old facility a modern makeover by converting the existing two-story structure into a three-story, 75,000-sf, LEED-certif...
| Aug 11, 2010
Utah research facility reflects Native American architecture
A $130 million research facility is being built at University of Utah's Salt Lake City campus. The James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building—a USTAR Innovation Center—is being designed by the Atlanta office of Lord Aeck & Sargent, in association with Salt-Lake City-based Architectural Nexus.
| Aug 11, 2010
San Bernardino health center doubles in size
Temecula, Calif.-based EDGE was awarded the contract for California State University San Bernardino's health center renovation and expansion. The two-phase, $4 million project was designed by RSK Associates, San Francisco, and includes an 11,000-sf, tilt-up concrete expansion—which doubles the size of the facility—and site and infrastructure work.
| Aug 11, 2010
Goettsch Partners wins design competition for Soochow Securities HQ in China
Chicago-based Goettsch Partners has been selected to design the Soochow Securities Headquarters, the new office and stock exchange building for Soochow Securities Co. Ltd. The 21-story, 441,300-sf project includes 344,400 sf of office space, an 86,100-sf stock exchange, classrooms, and underground parking.
| Aug 11, 2010
New hospital expands Idaho healthcare options
Ascension Group Architects, Arlington, Texas, is designing a $150 million replacement hospital for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. An existing facility will be renovated as part of the project. The new six-story, 320-000-sf complex will house 187 beds, along with an intensive care unit, a cardiovascular care unit, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical suites, rehabilitation clinic, and ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Colonnade fixes setback problem in Brooklyn condo project
The New York firm Scarano Architects was brought in by the developers of Olive Park condominiums in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn to bring the facility up to code after frame out was completed. The architects designed colonnades along the building's perimeter to create the 15-foot setback required by the New York City Planning Commission.
