OnMed, a hybrid health tech company, opened a mobile CareStation inside Fiesta Mart in Missouri City, aimed at giving community members access to primary and urgent care services outside of a clinical setting.
The overview
The CareStation, an 8x11-foot “clinic in a box," is a hybrid health technology that can provide health care anywhere as long as there is an outlet to plug it into, said Howard Gruverman, OnMed president and chief commercial officer.
With a human-centered design, CareStation clinicians appear human-sized on screen and can remotely take patient vitals, including weight, temperature, blood pressure and more. The box also fogs its windows for patient privacy and security, with a three-minute cleaning cycle between patients, Gruverman said.
Texas CareStations accept insurance, with no additional cost for those without, Gruverman said.
Why it matters
Patients can access the CareStation, which has on-demand clinicians, without an appointment, helping save emergency rooms from increasing visits, Gruverman said. The innovation is part of the company’s push to solve Texas’s care desert crisis, the company announced in a July news release.
“In the state of Texas, almost two million people are uninsured or have Medicaid, and they use the emergency room as their primary care doctor,” Gruverman said. “What happens is that takes away the resources, the dollars and the staffing from the people who really need it.”
CareStations are typically located in underserved and rural communities across the country, working with hospital systems, federally qualified health centers, university systems, jails and more to provide access to care where it’s not available, Gruverman said.
Check it out
OnMed has five CareStations across Texas, including in Milam County and at Navarro College, with a sixth slated to open in McAllen later this month.
- Opened July 10
- 1530 Independence Blvd., Missouri City
- www.onmed.com
