In the next month Walgreens will launch a new telemedicine component for its mobile application, said Adam Pelligrini, vice president of digital health at Walgreens, at this week’s Transforming Medicine: Evidence-driven Mhealth conference at Scripps Translational Science Institute. Pelligrini hinted that this new rollout will be something more impactful than Walgreens’ announcement this June: Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), working with telemedicine company MDLive, will expand round-the-clock access to physicians via digital device for customers in 25 states by the end of the year. The announcement by the nation’s largest drugstore chain comes as the health care industry invests in a variety of ways to expand virtual doctor visits across the country. Telehealth providers are attracting major investors, expanding their doctor networks and attracting insurance coverage for their services via a variety of digital devices. The new functionality will be a “brand-new, integrated and amazing” experience, he said. “That is a fanatical passion of mine,” Pellegrini said. “We started with a mobile-led approach… We’re going to go deliver a seamless, frictionless experience of telemedicine mobile, through that huge audience base we already have with the mobile app.” Indeed, he said Walgreens’ mobile app is the third-most popular among all applications built by brick-and-mortar stores.
According to Adam Pelligrini, V﻿ice ﻿resident of D﻿﻿igital ﻿ealth at Walgreens, it will be releasing a new telemedicine element for its mobile app in the coming weeks. This announcement comes as the healthcare industry is starting to invest in possibilities that can help it to expand virtual doctor visits across the globe. Pelligrini has described the telemedicine component as "brand-new, integrated and amazing."