Kiosks: More Than Blood Pressure Machines
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Healthcare kiosks have evolved in the last decade to do much more than check your blood pressure while you wait for a prescription
The new generation of healthcare kiosks provides more than a way to kill time while waiting on the pharmacist. “They capture weight, height, and demographic data such as age. The kiosks can even test vision and connect into a live videoconference with a physician who, teamed with a medical assistant on-site, can use a stethoscope, otoscope, dermascope, and other diagnostic equipment,” according to Forbes.
They can prompt users to answer a series of questions about their symptoms that can guide them to an over the counter medicine or refer them to make an appointment with their physician. According to Forbes, these kiosks are exciting for a number of reasons - they create new revenue streams, target marketing, and encourage asymmetric competition.
They also reach the invisible. Forbes writes, “Healthcare kiosks have the potential to reach people who may be undiagnosed, unmotivated, or not yet sick enough to warrant costly at-home equipment. In contrast to remote monitoring devices such as Bluetooth-enabled spirometers, kiosks may engage people who are bored, curious, or not yet worried enough to see a physician.”
Forbes further notes kiosks can be utilized to direct patients to action. Using a patient’s answers to a series of questions, the kiosk can point patients in the right direction for treatment or advice. Some symptoms may result in suggesting an over the counter medicine, but others require a trip to the doctor. Making patients aware of their health and encouraging them to take action helps providers as well - catching illnesses in their beginning stages saves time and money.
One provider is leveraging kiosks to simplify check-in. According to Fierce Health IT, Sharp HealthCare implemented electronic check-in at three of its Sharp Rees-Stealy clinics. "In all, there will be 25 kiosks that will roll out across 11 of our medical centers by the end of the year," Curtis Ippolito, marketing specialist for Sharp said.
“The kiosks do more than check patients in: They confirm patient's identity and allow them to make payments with the swipe of a driver's license or credit card. The system sends receipts via email. The system also prompts users to update their demographic information if necessary, provides access to Sharp's online patient portal, and scans insurance cards. The check-in process takes one to two minutes.”
Michelle Calleran, manager of IT for Sharp, told Fierce Health IT, "We feel this is another avenue to maintain and increase patient satisfaction goals.”[We've had] positive reactions from staff, too. Once we did the pilot, the other sites were asking, 'when do we get our kiosk?'
"The doctors, nurses, and providers know if the front end can process the patients, it will streamline their workflow, and it's very positive, the synergy is there. They want to know how fast we can get them deployed."