On Wednesday, Walgreens, the drugstore giant said that it was expanding its platform with telehealth platform provider MDLIVE in order to extend telehealth visits to patients.

The company said that it will have expanded telehealth capabilities, a smartphone application that links doctors and patients virtually in 25 states, by the end of the year.

Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn said, "We're in five states now. Texas is not one of them," Cohn said. "I have no details on the other 20 states where we plan to expand at this time".

For years, video feeds and other technology have been used by doctors to treat patients in rural areas or remote locations.

However, experts said that increasing smartphone use and customer demand are causing a rapid expansion of the practice, called telemedicine, into everyday care. Now, healthcare companies are providing an additional boost with broad, national reach.

The extent of care a patient receives might vary from state to state as some state regulators restrict a doctor from using a telemedicine visit to write prescriptions for controlled substances or abortion-inducing medicines.

In some states, a doctor needs to establish relationship with a patient. This might include a physical or mental exam, before giving permission to do a telemedicine visit.

The visits can cost around $49 for patients with no coverage or insurance compared with typical prices of $70 for a clinic or more than $100 for a doctor's office visit.