A tech-powered startup and one of the nation's largest pharmacy chains have joined forces to improve access to rural healthcare.
Under the partnership between Homeward and Rite Aid, the pharmacy company will introduce Medicare-eligible customers to Homeward's services, like wellness visits, screenings and risk assessments. Rite Aid will also host Homeward mobile healthcare units at certain rural Michigan locations, with the goal of expanding to more markets.
"In these areas, we can't assume that 'if you build it, they will come.' Instead, we're creating convenient opportunities for care within the daily lives and routines of rural Americans," stated Homeward CEO Jennifer Schneider, MD, in a May 31 company news release.
Homeward, which launched in March, uses an integrated-care model with community-based mobile clinics and in-home care, to go with virtual visits and cellphone-based remote monitoring. The company will begin providing in-network primary and cardiology care for Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in the third quarter of 2022.