So maybe you don’t have a primary care physician, or time to go see a doctor. But the pharmacy on the corner is open 24/7 and its retail medical clinics are increasingly becoming the place more and more people go for simple acute and preventive care, according to a new study, reported by Stephanie Stevens.
Visits to retail clinics increased from 300 to almost 1,200 nationwide from 2007 to 2010, based on the study released last week by the RAND Corporation. And it’s only going to grow, with the Affordable Care Act.
This kind of care was delivered to six million people in 2009.
Over 44 percent of retail clinic visits from 2007 to 2009 were on the weekend or during weekday hours when physician offices are typically closed, the study noted. However, retail clinics make up only a tiny slice of overall outpatient visits to care facilities, “which include 117 million visits to emergency departments and 577 million visits to physician offices annually.”
The CAGR for 2011 to 2018 is predicted to be 11.2 percent, according to a GE Health survey.
The study found that most patients went to retail clinics for upper respiratory or urinary tract infections, and flu shots. The most common retail clinic patient was a young adult without a primary care physician, Stevenson revealed.
Another factor driving the popularity of retail clinics is the shortage of primary care physicians. The U.S. could have nearly 63,000 fewer doctors than needed by 2015, according to predictions by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Another reason? Stevenson wrote that the cost of treatment in a retail setting generally is lower for consumers than in a freestanding clinic. And the best part for time-pressed patients is that no appointment is needed.
But some doctors aren’t too sure this is the right way to go. Many urge patients to see the doctor, even for minor ailments, so there is follow-up which retail clinics do not offer.
As healthcare professionals look to form new alliances, there's a place for retail, as Merchant Medical’s CEO Thomas Charland told Stevenson: "What is changing would have changed with or without ‘Obamacare,’ and that's the formation of accountable care organizations, narrow networks and essentially a focus on partnerships. What's going to change for retail clinics is their part in those and how they operate within a certain scope of service that fits exact specifications – just as an urgent care does.”
Edited by
Braden Becker
