ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Food and drug chain Coborn’s Inc. plans to add PharmaSmart blood pressure kiosks at its pharmacy locations.

PharmaSmart International Inc. said Monday it’s slated to deploy its BP and health screening stations and cloud-based Health IT platform at Coborn’s 36 supermarkets with pharmacies, operating under the Coborn’s, Cash Wise Foods and Coborn’s Marketplace Foods banners in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Plans also call for PharmaSmart kiosks to roll out to Coborn’s two clinic pharmacies and the retailer’s support center in St. Cloud, Minn.

“For us, this is more than just deploying new kiosks. With PharmaSmart, we now offer our guests a credible, evidence-based program for blood pressure management, including full integration into our Rx software and a branded patient health portal,” Jim Cox, pharmacy director at Coborn’s, said in a statement. “PharmaSmart’s integrated solution allows us to easily intervene in cases where blood pressure control is not achieved, and we now have the data to demonstrate our impact on blood pressure control over a managed population.”

Coborn’s aims to leverage PharmaSmart’s clinical-grade program and McKesson CPS integration to help meet Medicare Star Ratings goals, particularly measures D-14 (medication adherence for hypertension), and C-19 (controlling blood oressure). Both are triple-weighted measures of high interest to national and regional insurers, according to PharmaSmart.

“We now are in the process of negotiating remuneration with health care plans,” Cox added. “PharmaSmart’s respected clinical brand and health care toolbox have helped bring insurance partners to the table. We evaluated deploying traditional, ‘recreational’ kiosks, but PharmaSmart’s program better supports Coborn’s reputation as a trusted health care brand and bolsters our credibility with physician groups, health plans and our own pharmacists, who want to know that their patient management tools are backed by evidence.”

Overall, St. Cloud, Minn.-based Coborn’s operates 54 supermarkets across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin under the Coborn’s, Cash Wise Foods, Marketplace Foods and Save-A-Lot banners. Coborn’s also owns CobornsDelivers, an online grocery ordering and home delivery service, and stand-alone convenience, liquor, video and pharmacy outlets, for a total of 120 retail locations.

“Coborn’s clinical commitment and investment into controlling blood pressure is further proof that pharmacists deserve ‘provider status,’ in line with legislation currently before Congress,” stated Ashton Maaraba, chief operations officer and head of sales at PharmaSmart. “We are thrilled to be working with Coborn’s health and wellness specialists to target and treat uncontrolled hypertension.”

PharmaSmart kiosks serve more than 7,000 retail locations in the United States and Canada, including chain drug, supermarket and discount stores, among other venues. Its PS Data Smart Health IT database holds over 50 million targeted patient BP readings. PharmaSmart’s BPT Rx integration with McKesson’s Clinical Programs Solutions (CPS) synchronizes PharmaSmart patient data with Mckesson’s EnterpriseRx pharmacy management system.