Forecast for retail clinics: heading upwards. Writing in Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, David Ellis surveys the retail clinic landscape and finds reasons for optimism:
"If a growing market demand for primary and geriatric care, a dwindling supply of primary and geriatric care, and a growing retail clinic industry are not enough to persuade anyone that there may be some correlations here, consider that so far there have been no retail clinic patient horror stories, that the little data published to date indicate that retail clinics are delivering high-quality care, and that hospital systems are slowly but surely getting into the business themselves. The reasonable conclusion is that the retail clinic, if not “very sound,” at least deserves a passing grade."And now pharmacy giant Walgreens is moving the concept into another niche: worksite clinics.
"One work-site clinic, which has served a 60-employee company for three years and five hours a week, charges employees and their family members nothing for visits, drugs or labs. The company saves money because its employees and family members receive primary care when they need it, thereby avoiding downstream costs from compounded health problems." (emphasis mine.)
Ellis find the concept "disruptive" and a threat to traditional health care providers. That may actually understate the situation. It's hard to compete with "free."
Recently, I was part of an RFP response team developing the worksite clinic concept for a major Midwest food products company. Our experience and data agree with Ellis's: the economic benefits are compelling, even for a small company. Watch this trend. A new model of primary care is emerging.
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