Delta to use UnitedHealth's online care services

Delta Air Lines is the first employer to sign on for online medical care services through a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc.

The service -- called NowClinic -- will initially be available to Delta's 10,000 Minnesota-based employees and later rolled out around the country.

The cost to employees is $10 for a 10-minute consultation, which can be done by phone, using live chat or a Web cam. Employees sign onto a secure website -- as they might for an online banking transaction -- and choose from a list of credentialed Minnesota doctors. These doctors will provide both the kind of acute care provided by retail clinics such as MinuteClinic as well as some chronic care.

There will be some limitations. For example, no controlled substances will be allowed to be prescribed online, said Dr. James Springrose, national medical director for OptumHealth, a unit of UnitedHealth that launched the telemedicine services last year.

Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth, whose primary business is health insurance, has been expanding into health services.

In Minnesota, other telemedicine players include Park Nicollet Health Services, which partnered with Zipnosis to provide online consultations with nurse practitioners, as well as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, whose program, "Online Care Anywhere," is available to Medtronic employees in the state.