Many pharmacies, supermarkets or other retail stores now offer some type of urgent care that is usually staffed by a nurse practitioner. These are good places for getting a flu shot, having your blood pressure checked or having a rapid strep test. Routine physicals, treatments for minor illnesses such as allergies, rashes, pink eye, insect bites and ear infections can also be treated. However, they usually do not have diagnostic equipment and cannot run lab tests or take X-rays.

Source: Dayton Daily News

Although different operators employ slightly different approaches, the overall business model utilized by convenience clinics is quite consistent. It involves the provision of basic healthcare services at a low cost, in a facility conveniently located in a busy retail outlet, with broad hours of operation. Care is intended to supplement that provided by the patient’s primary care provider, particularly for common illnesses where the diagnoses are clear-cut and the therapies are proven. Locations such as drug stores, food stores, mass merchandisers and other popular retail outlets with pharmacies enable patient accessibility and make it easy for patients to get their prescriptions filled nearby.

Source: aarkstore

Critics say it’s not the same as seeing a doctor. If you’re not trained to recognize and treat a more serious condition, you could miss a diagnosis.

“If there’s any uncertainty they will make sure you see a doctor.” says Sloanim “We would set them up with a primary care provider in the area. If they don’t have insurance or it’s something that needs to be taken of care of in 24 hours, we would send them to a nearby urgent care.”

Source: ABCLocal.Go.com

After 2 years of stagnation, retail health clinics are poised for significant growth in the coming years due to the changing healthcare industry, according to an industry analyst.

…five factors in the healthcare industry could cause retail health clinics to take a greater market share:

1. Accountable care organizations (ACOs)
2. Cost-cutting employers
3. Patient demand
4. Disease management
5. Competition

The number of retail clinics jumped 11.2 percent to 1,355 in 2011 after slow growth in 2010 and 2009, according to a report by Thomas Charland, chief executive of Merchant Medicine, which tracks the growth of retail medical care services. The number of retail clinics rose only 3 percent in 2010 and had flat growth in 2009 when the financial crisis and the related poor real estate market caused some smaller operators to close their doors. This followed several years of rapid growth.

Source: The New York Times

The benefit of these walk-in clinics, however, depends on a consumer’s situation. Because they are significantly cheaper, retail clinics often appeal to people who are uninsured and have to pay out of pocket, said RAND researcher Ateev Mehrotra.

The cost of care at walk-in clinics at stores such as CVS, Walgreens, Target and Wal-Mart is on average 30 to 40 percent lower than at a physician office or urgent care center and roughly 80 percent lower than an emergency room, a RAND study shows. For consumers, the average cost of an ER visit for strep throat can be $550 to $750 vs. $59 at a retail clinic, data from insurance giant Aetna shows.

Patients “really like the predictability of the cost,” Mehrotra said.

Source: StarTribune

According to Mehrotra, a 2010 RAND study found that the quality of care provided at retail clinics is similar to the quality of care provided at doctors’ offices and emergency departments. The study also found that the cost of receiving care at retail clinics is significantly less expensive than the cost of receiving care at doctors’ offices or EDs.

Source: CaliforniaHealthline

For strep throat, which accounted for 15 million patient visits in 2006 alone, retail clinics seem like a pretty good idea. While I still believe in the medical home and the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and continuity of care, I’m sure there are more examples of where they work as well.

That said, there are lots of examples where they won’t. Don’t take this as an excuse to go overboard.

Source: The Incidental Economist

The health policy world has a love-hate relationship with retail clinics, the medical facilities based in stores like Wal-Mart or CVS. It loves the idea of delivering care faster and cheaper, and that potential has made inroads with skeptics like the Incidental Economist’s Aaron Carroll. But there’s also a decent amount of disdain from doctors: Will care provided in a retail store really be as good as that given in a physician’s office? Can stand-alone clinics survive in a health-care system that is becoming increasingly more integrated?

Source: The Washington Post

When retail health clinics first came on the scene several years ago, many healthcare leaders didn’t quite know what to make of them. On the one hand, they could help hospitals by keeping non-emergency cases out of overcrowded EDs, but there was also a risk that the clinics could take away some downstream revenue from hospitals.

It’s now clear that both views are true: in addition to taking a load off EDs, retail clinics are also poised to take on the roles of primary care provider and disease management. Hospital leaders have the choice of either trying to beat retail clinics—a difficult proposition—or joining them. Ignoring clinics will not be an option.

Source: HealthLeaders