The New York State Department of Health is teaming up with Ro, a direct-to-consumer telehealth app for pharmacy services, to provide eligible residents with COVID-19 vaccines directly in their homes.
Six notes:
1. Ro's COVID-19 vaccine drive launches this week in select ZIP codes of Yonkers, N.Y., and initially will be available for patients ages 65 and older, according to a March 3 news release.
2. The program is free, and New York state is supplying the Moderna vaccine.
3. Through the initiative, New York's health department and Ro aim to help vulnerable populations, including the elderly, disabled and homebound, who face logistical challenges getting to vaccination sites.
4. Ro's COVID-19 vaccine drive uses the telehealth company's primary care platform for scheduling, and Ro's pharmacy operations will manage vaccine inventory and distribution. Ro's in-home care application programming interface, Workpath, will be used to coordinate and dispatch the healthcare workers to vaccine recipients' homes.
5. Eligible individuals can schedule their in-home vaccination appointments online. During the appointment, a healthcare professional will come to the recipient's home to administer the vaccine and then schedule the second appointment as part of the program.
6. Ro is also arranging free transportation for the healthcare workers administering the vaccines at people's homes, and Uber is donating free rides to help cover a portion of the transportation costs.