The Hidalgo County Health Department officially unveiled its newest addition to the area Wednesday morning: the region's first OnMed CareStation®, a "Clinic-in-a-Box" built to deliver free, real-time primary care regardless of insurance status. County officials, along with representatives from Molina Healthcare and United Healthcare, were on hand to open the station, located inside the Hidalgo County Health Department-McAllen Clinic.
"The OnMed CareStation is here for the entire community of Hidalgo or anyone who wants to use it," said Mindy Walker, Vice President of OnMed, adding that insurance is unnecessary to receive care from the station.
Walker explained that the CareStation is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and can fit about three people comfortably. Inside, a clinician assesses patients over a large screen with the help of onboard tools including a blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, thermoscan, and high-definition camera, along with a floor scale outlined in blue light. "We're usually able to take care of over 90% of ailments that come in," Walker said, adding that the CareStation can send prescriptions directly to local pharmacies and route referrals to specialists.
Each clinician is bilingual and either a licensed nurse practitioner or physician assistant, Walker said. She added that OnMed was currently working to expand the station's language capabilities to about 140 languages. An average appointment ran about 19 minutes, and once a patient stepped out, the doors locked again for a 90-second self-cleaning cycle using a HEPA filtration system and UVA sanitation before the next visit.
The CareStation is sponsored by United Healthcare and Molina Healthcare, which help cover the cost of care. Kelsey Letcher, chief operating officer for Molina Healthcare, said that since the company began serving the area in 2012, it has recognized the barriers people face in accessing care, which is why Molina partnered with OnMed and United Healthcare to help close the gap. Letcher explained that a monthly stipend from Molina helps cover the cost of the CareStation so any resident can continue to receive care regardless of financial status. "It was super exciting to get to bring and give back to the community that gave so much to me," said Letcher, a McAllen native.
According to the nonprofit public policy research group Texas 2036, the percentage of uninsured residents in the Rio Grande Valley ranged from 31% in Starr County to 30% in Hidalgo County and 27% in both Cameron and Willacy counties, as of 2023.
For Dr. Ivan Melendez, the Hidalgo County Health Authority, the CareStation is a step toward expanding access to affordable care in an area with a large uninsured and underinsured population. The health department already provides vaccines, wellness checks, prenatal care, STD and infectious disease testing and treatment, and care for diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, but Melendez said the added support matters. "We're certainly at a time where access to health care is incredibly difficult and becoming more challenging, so something like this, for us it's just another piece in that puzzle, it's just another alternative of accessing primary care services," Melendez said.
Although the CareStation was new to the Rio Grande Valley, Walker said OnMed had already established stations in airports, homeless shelters, emergency rooms, and jails in other parts of the country. "We're trying to be in every corner of America basically so that no one goes without access to health care, really our mission is to bring health care everywhere," Walker said.
McAllen's launch reflects a broader shift toward insurer-funded, on-site care models built to close access gaps in communities with high uninsured rates.
As health plans and county health departments nationwide look for ways to expand primary care access without adding cost to the patient, on-site clinical care offers a practical, proven approach. By combining real-time clinician access with integrated diagnostic tools, this model helps ensure more consistent, timely care for populations who might otherwise go without.
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OnMed is transforming how the world accesses healthcare. With its patented OnMed CareStation®, an 8×10 foot "Clinic-in-a-Box", OnMed delivers comprehensive, immediate care wherever people live, work, and learn. The OnMed CareStation is a tech-enabled, AI-powered, and human-delivered platform that blends the comprehensiveness of traditional in-person care with the rapid scalability of telemedicine. Each CareStation serves as a local access point within a scalable, connected grid that delivers everyday healthcare at scale.
Powered by public-private partnerships across insurers, healthcare providers, governments, employers, and educational institutions, OnMed is redefining healthcare access, closing critical gaps, restoring trust, and strengthening the health and economic resilience of communities everywhere. Learn more at www.onmed.com.
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