One of the few positive aspects of the Covid19 pandemic is that healthcare consumers are increasing turning to their digital devices for access to health services such as virtual visits with their personal physicians or filling prescriptions. I have been blogging about lab test ordering on the web, direct access testing (DAT), for about 15 years (see: Reinventing Direct Access Testing (DAT)) The die now seems to be cast regarding far greater engagement by consumers in digital health initiatives (see: What Is Digital Health and How Does a Health System Get There?).
Walgreens, as part of this digital healthcare movement, is trying to establish itself as a "digital marketplace" to direct and refer consumers to a variety of healthcare services with its Find Care app (see: Walgreens Introduces New Digital Marketplace Featuring 17 Leading Health Care Providers). This web-based business referral model has a long history. Angie's List, for example, provides consumer referrals, prompted by reviews of local tradespeople for home repairs. And, of course, posting reviews for various consumer products is a mainstay of web commerce. Most people would not buy products on the web without reading posted reviews deemed to be reliable.
Walgreens...[has] introduced Find Care Now, a digital platform and marketplace that helps connect the company’s millions of mobile and online visitors to health care services at Walgreens stores and to a growing selection of recognized providers in the community. The company is working closely with a current list of 17 participating providers as part of the effort, further enhancing Walgreens omnichannel role as a convenient and trusted neighborhood health care destination. Find Care Now makes it easier for customers to navigate and search for local and digital health care services, with offerings in certain markets as varied as neighborhood health care clinics, urgent care, telehealth, lab testing, physician second opinions, and even physician house calls and optical and hearing services in select markets.....These include physicians or nurse practitioners at urgent care centers co-located at Walgreens drugstores, or at Walgreens stores that offer Healthcare Clinic or other provider retail clinic services. Other specialist offerings include behavioral health therapists, optometrists, dermatologists, hearing care professionals and diagnostic lab services in certain markets.
In general, I find this idea of a medical digital marketplace appealing but I am not particularly impressed with the Walgreens execution of the idea. Walgreens' current web site is interesting as to what services are offered but it's an amateurish web design. Lab testing is one of the services being offered through LabCorp but it's not clear how test orders are executed absent a physician order which is required in about half the states. More importantly, there are no reviews of the linked services on Find Care which many consumers may have come to expect. However, consumer-generated reviews may be difficult to generate for healthcare services and, beyond that, may not be viewed as particularly reliable. However, watch for other variations of such medical web marketplaces to emerge with more sophisticated design and options.
