We've voiced our enthusiasm for quick in-and-out, retail-format clinics such as Minuteclinic before. Here's Medpundit, a doctor, voicing his concerns:
My local grocery store is opening a QuickClinic. For $39 they'll take care of colds, flu, minor injuries, pink eye, and the like. They'll also take out your sutures and clean your ears. They'll screen for diabetes, anemia, and cholesterol, among other things. And they'll give you your immunizations, too, but their brochure doesn't say how much those cost.
I know my office can't compete with $39 visits. I'd go bankrupt. But then, I'm not just a walk-in clinic. I'm expected to do a lot more than just "treat and street," and rightly so. I know quite a few doctors who are more than a little upset about the competition. There's no sense fighting it, though. They exist because there's a perceived demand for them. They're also a natural outgrowth of the influenza vaccine clinics that have been held these past several years in drug stores and grocery stores throughout the country.
It should be interesting to see how they pan out, though. They're still more expensive than most people's co-pays. And I'm not entirely convinced that the volume of uninsured patients (or HSA plans, for that matter) is high enough to sustain a practice based solely on cash payment. I know one doctor who tried it here, and ended up closing his practice after a year. (He had other personal issues, though, so he might not be a good example.) Then, too, these aren't standard practices. They're subsidized by the retailers who think of them as a means to bring customers to their store (and pharmacy). They're like an interactive advertisement.
First of all, given the spiraling cost of care, it'd be great if retail stores started subsidizing this stuff to get people in the door, though I don't think that's what's going on. As for the $39 fee being more expensive than most people's co-pay, that may be true, but given the hassle and headache of going through insurance (when people even have it), a few dollars more seems like a good idea.
If these new kind of clinics do start making a dent in doctors' receipts, I see no other scenario, than for the AMA to start lobbying hard against them, saying they pose various risks to patient's health. Doctors enjoy unusual barriers to entry to keep their fees high, and this undermines that in many of the most common cases.
I gotta admit these little clinics sound cool.
Posted by: Jane | July 13, 2010 at 11:30 PM