Are mHealth Kiosks is attempting to comeback?

The VA and a Washington-based health system are testing mHealth kiosks, and a new company is touting its self-enclosed clinic as an alternative to the urgent care center.

mHealth enthusiasts take note: The kiosk is not dead yet.

While HealthSpot’s assets – involving hundreds of the bankrupt company’s room-sized kiosks – were disposed of in an online auction over the Memorial Day weekend, smaller versions of the self-serve booths are showing up in health systems across the nation.

The Veterans Administration is utilizing the kiosks in rural parts of the country as an alternative to new clinics or VA hospitals, former U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake, MD LTG (Ret.) said during the recent American Telemedicine Association conference in Minneapolis. In Washington, the 48-hospital CHI Franciscan Health system has just launched a “virtual urgent care concierge program,” using kiosks to help sort through the mix of high- and low-acuity patients at its clinics and EDs.