Minnesotans will soon have access to a virtual clinic, thanks to a partnership between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and American Well.

America Well's Online Care will provide Minnesotans with live interactions with physicians and other medical care providers. The virtual clinics at the worksite will emphasize treatment for common illnesses, monitor care for patients with chronic illnesses and offer preventive and wellness care.

Online Care will be rolled out to Blue Cross' 10,000 employees and family members at the company's campuses in Eagan and Virginia, Minn. Blue Cross will then evaluate Online Care with the intention of making it available to employer groups and additional consumers as soon as 2010.

"We believe that in order to get healthcare costs under control, respond to consumer needs and reshape healthcare delivery for the future, that new care models are critical," said Pat Geraghty, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. "We can't continue to deliver care the same way we have been doing for years and expect the cost and access equation to change. That's why we are bringing Online Care to Minnesota."

Online Care services allow a physician or other clinical provider to review patients' clinical information, speak with and see patients, prescribe medications as needed and suggest follow-up care. The system will be fully connected with HealthVault, Microsoft's online consumer health platform, to allow patients to share the encounter with their primary care provider. 

"Employers are clear that the next stages of healthcare innovation must come from the ways in which we access and pay for care. Employers in Minnesota are leaders in looking for new models for care and payment, so I think there will be a great deal of interest in the new 'virtual clinic' and Online Care being launched by Blue Cross," said Carolyn Pare, CEO of the Buyers Health Care Action Group, a Bloomington, Minn.-based coalition of private and public employers working to redirect the healthcare system.