Florida Blue and Miami Children's Hospital Unveil HealthSpot Innovative Telehealth Technology

MIAMI, Nov. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Blue and Miami Children's Hospital have teamed-up to offer patients a convenient alternative option to healthcare through telehealth technology offered through HealthSpot. Florida Blue members will now have access to convenient healthcare services at the company's Retail Center in Miami, offered through a unique walk-in kiosk.

The HealthSpot® station – a private, 8-foot-by-7-foot enclosure outfitted with touchscreens, medical devices and videoconferencing capabilities – enables Miami Children's medical providers to see and treat adults and children members age two and older. The station is also supported by an on-site accredited medical attendant.

The HealthSpot station has two-way, high-definition video screens, which deliver a unique face-to-face experience between patients and providers. The digital medical devices in each unit – stethoscope, scale, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, thermometer, otoscope and magnascope – stream medical information to the provider and patient.

Florida Blue members can make an appointment or walk into the Retail Center and utilize the HealthSpot station for minor, common conditions and services such as:

• Fever, Colds and Flu, Rashes and Skin Conditions, Pinkeye and Styes, Earaches, Sore Throat, Sinus Infections, Upper Respiratory Infections, Seasonal Allergies.

For Florida Blue, this is the latest in a series of initiatives across the state, focused on innovation and collaboration to deliver higher value for its members. As a healthcare leader in Florida, the company is committed to reducing costs and improving access to quality care for its members and for all Floridians. Addressing community health starts at the neighborhood level, and the kiosk is an easy-to-access alternative for those who live and work near the Miami Retail Center which is located across from the Falls in south Miami-Dade.

Miami Children's Health System in 2013 began reinventing the healthcare experience through creation of MCH Anywhere, the first pediatric telehealth program of its kind in South Florida. MCH Anywhere helps eliminate barriers of time and distance to support families in receiving timely healthcare guidance. The program is supported by a state-of-the-art Telehealth Command Center, based on the hospital's main campus, designed by doctors and consumer experts to support review of diagnostic information by board-certified clinicians through sophisticated videoconferencing. In addition, this collaboration with Florida Blue helps MCH expand its telehealth offering to include adult patients.

"Florida Blue believes innovation and collaboration efforts like this are critical to the future of healthcare," said South Florida Market President Penny Shaffer. "We are proud and excited to meet the growing needs of our members, by providing this convenient and affordable option to access care."

"At Miami Children's, we always seek opportunities to serve children and families wherever the need arises," says Dr. Narendra Kini, President and CEO. "Through our MCH Anywhere telehealth program we are reaching out to communities in the southern part of Miami-Dade County to offer convenient access to board-certified clinicians capable of serving adults and children. It is our hope that this unique service will be a valued convenience to Florida Blue members of all ages who reside within this lovely area."

"Our mission at HealthSpot is to create convenient and affordable access to high-quality care," says Steve Cashman, CEO of HealthSpot. "We are thrilled to be able to work with Florida Blue and Miami Children's to bring Florida families the opportunity to get the care they need, when and where they need it."

About Florida Blue
Florida Blue, Florida's Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, is a leader in Florida's health care industry. Its mission is to help people and communities achieve better health. Florida Blue has approximately 4 million health care members and serves 15.5 million people in 16 states through its affiliated companies. Florida Blue is a not-for- profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., it is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit www.floridablue.com.

About Miami Children's Health System
Founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International, Miami Children's Hospital operates South Florida's only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, with more than 650 attending physicians and over 130 pediatric sub-specialists. The 289-bed nonprofit hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine and routinely has many programs ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report. The organization has grown and evolved into the Miami Children's Health System (MCHS) which includes Miami Children's Health Foundation, the organization's 501c3 fundraising arm; a network of eight nonprofit outpatient centers situated in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties; Pediatric Specialty Group, Inc., a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary; a management services organization, and an ambulatory surgery center, as well as an e-commerce line of children's wellness and safety products that support the hospital's mission of serving the region's pediatric population. MCHS is the region's only healthcare system exclusively for children www.mch.com.

About HealthSpot
HealthSpot is healthcare, reimagined. A pioneer in connected care, HealthSpot has built a comprehensive healthcare delivery platform that combines cloud-based software with the award-winning HealthSpot station, digital medical devices and mobile applications. HealthSpot's platform radically transforms today's healthcare system by enabling the delivery of quality, affordable medical care through a diverse professional care network for patients in efficient, convenient locations like pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, employer and community sites, universities and the home. For more information on HealthSpot, go to www.healthspot.net.

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SOURCE Florida Blue

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