There is a clear trend in the delivery of healthcare and it is not at the hospital or with the primary care provider. It is showing up at your local pharmacy and growing fast. Walk-in clinics are becoming the new way of obtaining fast, less expensive, and readily available health services. But, the questions are becoming more frequent as the clinics expand.
The leaders so far are CVS with its Minute Clinics, and Walgreen's, with the Take Care Clinics. Both have a fairly large base with CVS at 650, and Walgreen's at 370 clinics. Initially, they were both treating some of the everyday minor problems that most people would either ignore or wait until the condition became worse. But with short wait-times, 7 day a week availability, and prescription service, the clinics are becoming more acceptable to the fast paced lives of consumers. But Walgreen's has now expanded to include more chronic conditions and the competition is on.
These clinics are generally staffed with nurse practitioners or physician’s assistants and rely on a uniform corporate structure for diagnosis. Of course, the liability factor becomes important when any health professional makes any diagnosis. Can you say malpractice?
I must admit that I have done a lot of reading about these pharmacy clinics and have yet to feel comfortable enough to use one. I think at this point, caveat emptor is the phrase that captures the possible use of these services. Do the research yourself and then make an informed decision as to whether or not it may be better to go to an emergency room, or wait to see your own doctor. There is a link to Business Insider with some great internal links to get you started here. We have seen before that competition can improve the "level playing field", but the rush to profit can get in the way of consumer safety. Just a thought...
The leaders so far are CVS with its Minute Clinics, and Walgreen's, with the Take Care Clinics. Both have a fairly large base with CVS at 650, and Walgreen's at 370 clinics. Initially, they were both treating some of the everyday minor problems that most people would either ignore or wait until the condition became worse. But with short wait-times, 7 day a week availability, and prescription service, the clinics are becoming more acceptable to the fast paced lives of consumers. But Walgreen's has now expanded to include more chronic conditions and the competition is on.
These clinics are generally staffed with nurse practitioners or physician’s assistants and rely on a uniform corporate structure for diagnosis. Of course, the liability factor becomes important when any health professional makes any diagnosis. Can you say malpractice?
I must admit that I have done a lot of reading about these pharmacy clinics and have yet to feel comfortable enough to use one. I think at this point, caveat emptor is the phrase that captures the possible use of these services. Do the research yourself and then make an informed decision as to whether or not it may be better to go to an emergency room, or wait to see your own doctor. There is a link to Business Insider with some great internal links to get you started here. We have seen before that competition can improve the "level playing field", but the rush to profit can get in the way of consumer safety. Just a thought...
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