01-05-2025
‘Clinic-in-a-Box' could help bridge the rural-urban healthcare divide
AUSTIN (KXAN) – A company is rolling out a new product to expand access to patients in rural areas.
OnMed showcased its Clinic-in-a-Box on Wednesday to local media and Texas legislators. The company touts that the 8-by-11-foot 'box' combines the accessibility of telehealth medicine with the infrastructure of in-person care.
'Eighty percent of counties don't have adequate care. In Texas, 35 counties lack access completely, and 150 have very little access,' said Howard Gruverman, the president of OnMed. 'This is a lower cost, lower footprint, ability to address the access.'
OnMed's Clinic-in-a-Box looks like a typical primary care physician's exam room. There is a scale, a blood pressure monitor and a hand sanitizer dispenser. But the glaring difference is the large, touch-screen monitor in the pod.
Patients from counties where physicians are lacking can enter the device and be connected with a qualified doctor in a larger city in moments, according to OnMed.
'We're working with a lot of local and state governments, including the federal government, to look at where the care deserts are,' Gruverman said.
OnMed already has 30 clinics in use across the United States, and Gruverman said he expects that number to jump to 200 by the end of 2025. In Texas, there are active ones in Milam County and in Corsicana. Gruverman said his team is working on activating four additional Texas ones soon.
'We become part of the fabric of the community – to connect people to the proper care, whether it's primary care, urgent care, specialty referrals, food insecurity, food banks, mental health services [and] behavioral services,' he continued.
President of the Texas Medical Association, Dr. Ray Callas, said he thinks a product such as Clinic-in-a-Box could be an excellent tool to connect rural patients to doctors, but he said it is essential that the medical team maintains quality care.
'[The team] must be an educated, highly trained physician collaboration,' Callas said.
'We have been trying to promote that all Texans have the same access – no matter if you live in a large metropolitan area, or you live in a small farm community, or if you live on the border and there's only 1,000 people in that community,' Callas said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
