Walgreens Launch an Online platform for consumers to access healthcare services
Walgreens is the second-largest chain of pharmacy stores in the United States. It specializes in wellness and health products, photo services, filling prescriptions, and health information. Walgreens was founded in 1901 with headquarters in Deerfield, Chicago. It now operates over 9,200 stores in the US.
As a leading wholesale and retail, Walgreens, the pharmaceutical company, touches millions of lives per day through the distribution of medications, beauty, and health products in both their physical stores and online platforms. With over 170 years of heritage, the company has been actively involved in community innovation.
Walgreens introduced a digital platform known as Find Care Now, which helps connect online and mobile visitors to the company’s health care services. The online platform also connects users to Walgreens stores, enhancing their Omni-channel role by working with a list of 17 trusted providers.
How Find Care Now works
Find care Now has made healthcare easily accessible to locals in Illinois area. Services offered include urgent care, lab testing, neighborhood clinics, physician house calls, and getting a second opinion. The president of Operations at Walgreens stated that this was another way for his company to help people with busy lives access to high-quality healthcare services. He also stated that this was among a sequence of innovations to offer multiple channel experiences for all Walgreens customers to easily access high quality and affordable healthcare services within their communities.
Find care was innovated in 2018 as an alternative to expensive physical healthcare visits. Over 17 healthcare providers, including doctors and nurses, have joined the platform to offer retail and healthcare clinical services. Other healthcare specialists have also joined, including dermatologists, behavioral therapists, hearing care professionals, optometrists, and diagnostic lab services in numerous markets.
Healthcare service providers included in the Find Care Now digital platform
Numerous participants have joined the digital platform to offer healthcare services in their designated communities. Below is a list of these participants across the United States:
- Baptist Health, Florida.
- Advocate Healthcare in Chicago.
- National dermatology service-DermatologistOnCall.
- Walgreens Hearing and optical services
- University of Miami Health System- UHealth
- SSM Health, st.Louis.
- New York-Presbyterian Hospital in partnership with Columbia University Irving Medical Centre and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.
- Community Healthcare Network in Mediapolis
- Florida Hospital in Tampa.
- Laboratory testing and diagnostics- LabCorp.
- Providence St. Joseph Health includes the Providence Express Care in Oregon, Portland, and Swedish Express Care in Seattle.
- Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta.
- Med Express Urgent Care, Optum Company, and the provider of medical care in their neighborhood.
Through the Find Care Now digital platform, most healthcare providers can meet more patients who need care. As a way to give power to the consumer, the online platform has put the patients on the driver’s seat, making it easy to access flexible and affordable healthcare services from their home. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it has grown increasingly difficult to give at-home healthcare services.
Consumers can access the Find Care Now online platform through the Walgreens app at the Health Services sector or online at their website. The health care services availability is dependent on a user’s health conditions and location ensuring relevant and convenient outcomes are continuously offered. Users are now able to view pricing information and schedule virtual or physical consultation visits in different markets. The Walgreen app has now been improved with easy anywhere, anytime access to the Find Care Now. It has been downloaded over 50 million times, with around 5 million active users per month.
Find now has also expanded to include home care during the Coronavirus pandemic. The platform is currently complying with the Centre for Disease Control’s (CDC) safety guidance to use telehealth to address their clients’ medical needs. The company is a big advocate for social distancing, which they believe is an essential step in managing COVID-19 impact on society today.