This company is prototyping an unmanned health clinic in Baltimore

A pair of nondescript cabins sit in the corner of Harbor Designs and Manufacturing’s floor inside the Wicomico Building in Southwest Baltimore.
While they offer complete seclusion from the work taking place outside, these booths aren’t designed to take calls.
Instead, they’re some of the early versions of a micro clinic that the creators at VideoKall think could change a routine doctor’s visit.
The cabins, called ClinicStop, are the latest product to appear at Harbor Designs and Manufacturing for prototyping. Cofounder and CEO Charlie Nahabedian, whom we first caught up with at the Chesapeake Innovation Center in 2015, said the parent company VideoKall changed the name of its product to ClinicStop from MedEx Spot in October.
The 5 ft. by 6 ft. cabin is designed to hold medical instruments to take the medical readings like a stethoscope, thermometer and blood pressure cuff. More advanced tools like a glucose monitor are also included. The tools are operated remotely, and the nurse practitioner appears on a screen via satellite video.
“The capabilities of that nurse practitioner are the same thing as if they were in front of you with all of their instruments,” Nahabedian said Friday during a presentation to a group that included investors at the Wicomico building.

It’s designed so that patients can get an initial visit for an illness, and potentially get a prescription or other follow-up from there. The booths are also self-cleaning with an ion plasma, hydrogen peroxide and a cleaning system that sterilizes the instruments. Current estimates from the company show the average visit would take about 15 minutes.
The fact that it’s self-contained and unmanned would allow it to be placed in healthcare facilities and pharmacies, but also grocery stores or other public places, Nahabedian said. It mirrors a move in healthcare toward more convenient clinics that make it easier for patients and cut costs, as well as telehealth solutions that can help reach areas that don’t have a hospital or clinic nearby. Nahabedian said the company would seek to partner with hospitals, and could white-label it for them.

The move into the Baltimore facility followed completion of design work at Northeastern University with a team led by professor Tom Webster. With Harbor Designs and Manufacturing, Nahabendian is looking to update the design and complete a “beta” version of the clinic ahead of trials.
“This is a great, convenient location because they can also do assembly and test of that technology platform, and we could set up a network operations center in Baltimore,” Nahabedian said.