Some doctors' groups and consumer advocates urge caution, raising concerns about how companies might use personal health data, the quality of their medical information and whether advertisers and other sponsors might shape their advice and referrals for commercial reasons.

"There is a trend in general by retailers and health insurers to provide 'fluff' to consumers in the guise of real medical information as an advertising delivery device," says Carmen Balber of the left leaning advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.

Bringing exam rooms to patients

Walmart spokeswoman Danit Marquardt says the placement of SoloHealth stations in many stores is part of the retailer’s commitment to "testing new products and services and ways to keep customers healthy."   

"We don’t have a larger plan for primary care at this time," she added.

But SoloHealth's backers do have larger plans. The Duluth, Ga.-based company aims to expand its kiosk offerings to teach people how to quit smoking, test whether they are at risk for diabetes and even enroll them in health coverage.

[See also: Walmart clinics go live with the cloud.]

Self-serve computer stations are also eyed as a way to help consumers figure out whether they need medications for conditions such as high cholesterol, under a proposal now before the FDA to make some prescription medications over the counter. "It is clear there are now many interactive mechanisms that can step the consumer through the process of self-diagnosis and medication selection," said Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at a public hearing last March. The proposal is still under review.

Rival firms are marketing similar technologies. Dublin-Ohio based HealthSpot has enclosed cubicles that allow patients to pay $59 to $79 for a video "visit" with a doctor. NowClinic online, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, provides 10-minute video chats with physicians for $45.