Retail Health Clinics - Are You Ready For the Tidal Wave?
One of the most talked about happenings in the healthcare industry today is the emergence of in-store retail health clinics. These clinics offer convenient and affordable access to routine healthcare services and preventative care without the need to schedule appointments. While the level of clinical care and the business models vary by retailer and location, all are based on the same value proposition – a limited menu of health services in a convenient, walk-in retail environment.
Over 6,600 in-store medical clinics will open over the next five years.
The first MinuteClinic opened in a Cub Foods grocery store in Minneapolis in 2000, and since that time their numbers (and competitive entries) have swept across the country. Target and Wal-Mart have been just two of the pioneering chains to test this new healthcare alternative, and apparently they are satisfied with the results as both have stated their intent to expand their tests. Alicia Ledlie, senior director for Wal-Mart’s health business development, is forecasting that more than 6,600 in-store medical clinics will open their doors over the next five years.
Her predictions are based on the aggressive plans published by the major players and a host of new smaller players that are popping up all over the country. RediClinics have less than 100 units today, but have committed to 500 new locations by 2009. Take Care Health Systems, which currently operate in Osco, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores, plans to open 1,400 clinics by the end of 2008. Last year’s purchase of MinuteClinic by CVS is just one more indication of the anticipated strength of these new healthcare outlets.
Smaller regional players, like Aurora Health Care, Pinnacle EasyCare, QuickClinic, Solantic, CuraQuick Clinic, The Little Clinic, MediMin, HEALTHspot, and MedPoint Express are just a few of the companies that can be found on a Google search. The Convenient Care Association, an organization representing 18 companies that operate retail health clinics, held it first general meeting in March, 2007 at the University of Pennsylvania, with over 200 industry personnel and executives in attendance.
So, despite all of the consternation, hand-wringing, and dire predictions of the adverse effect on patient’s long term health or the patient-physician relationship by doctors and industry associations, this new retail phenomenon is definitely here to stay.
In-store clinics offer faster access and better convenience.
In-store retail clinics are succeeding because they offer consumers faster access to routine medical services. They are typically staffed by nurse practitioners, who can legally treat patients and write prescriptions in many states without a physician. Some other states require a licensed physician to be available by telephone while examining the patient, but they don’t have to physically be at the location. And other states are reviewing their requirements according to the American College of Nurse Practitioners.
In-store retail clinics are routinely used for common medical conditions like colds, ear infections, and strep-throat tests, and are moving rapidly into preventative care, including screening tests for high blood pressure and cholesterol, sports and camp physicals and flu shots, among other minor conditions and needs.
They appeal to everyone from parents dropping by with sick kids on the weekend to busy professionals who don’t want to go through the hassle of scheduling an appointment three days hence and then spend time reading two-year old magazines in a waiting room, or uncomfortably twiddling their thumbs in a cramped 6’x8’ office waiting for someone to actually talk to them.
This convenience is apparently worth the typical $25 to $60 fee they charge. A 2006 Harris poll found that 90% of those who had visited an in-store clinic said they were satisfied with the quality of care, 83% were satisfied with the convenience provided by these clinics, and 80% said they were satisfied with the cost.
In-store clinics are filling an unmet need.
The emergence of retail clinics certainly raises several operational and policy issues, but it also gives rise to a number of marketing implications. While these clinics offer a low-cost, low-overhead approach to healthcare, and a new source of revenue for their retail partners, it is important to realize that these clinics provide a number of benefits that are not well met within today’s health care system.
Certainly the convenience of same-day service, or no appointment necessary, is a desired benefit for today’s fast-paced, over-structured lifestyle. Most tout that you will be in and out in 15 minutes or less. The advantage of walk-in service is much preferred over the typical computer-assisted, impersonal telephone answering systems found in most physicians’ offices. Even if the clinic is busy, patients in many stores are given a limited-range pager that allows them to shop for other items while waiting to be seen. The ability to multi-task and the convenience of immediate prescription fulfillment at the in-store pharmacy are other advantages that consumers say make these new clinics a desirable option.
The AMA’s Council on Medical Services and the American Academy of Family Practitioners have both issued recommended operational guidelines and desired attributes for in-store retail clinics, as they recognize that these new clinics appear to fit with a larger trend toward consumer-driven health care. But just as they did years ago with the emergence of the much maligned “doc-in-a-box” emergency clinics, they are missing the point on why these new clinics are succeeding.
Retail clinics will continue to grow in numbers and importance.
They are succeeding, and will continue to grow, because of the needs that are not being met in the current health care model. The AMA decries the loss of the patient-physician relationship, while failing to recognize that many patients complain that there is no relationship currently in existence. With rising operating costs and skyrocketing medical malpractice premiums, overextended primary-care physicians are already assigning much of their patient interaction to nurse practitioners and physician assistants. In-store clinics are, in many ways, simply a more convenient way for patients to get much of the same care, so why shouldn’t the public support them?
The AMA and AAFP are certainly correct when they caution patients against making too many of their own health care choices without consulting a licensed physician. However, the driving factors of price transparency and choice are reasons that retail clinics offer a legitimate alternative resource to complement–if not replace–the work of family doctors and other primary-care physicians. Healthcare professionals must acknowledge that without changes in their marketing, or in the conventional health care delivery system itself, these retail clinics will continue to grow in numbers and importance. And that will have a much more far reaching impact on the wider health care system as insurance providers must now explore a different claims system and worry about increased demands on health care as a whole.
As Forrester recently reported, “the winds of change are upon us”. They cite the recent acquisition of Caremark by CVS as another important event to watch carefully. And they are also keeping a close watch on AOL co-founder Steve Case’s new Revolution Health. His web site, RevolutionHealth.com, is described as a consumer-health-themed social network, search engine, wellness advisor, personal health tracker, and on-line store.
Here comes doc-in-a big-box, and a whole lot more. Are you ready for it?
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