[lit-ideas] McDoctor

  • From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 01:59:21 EST

 
An interesting approach to health care ......and only America  would do it.  
The country of the hurried, harried and broke.  Actually  I kind of like the 
idea.   We live 5 minutes from a WalMart and if the  Dr's were reputable and I 
liked them it would be a great convenience --  particularly if the costs are 
lower than a Dr's office as is indicated  below.
Julie Krueger

Grocery list: Milk, detergent, strep test

Friday, February 3, 2006; Posted: 8:25 a.m.  EST (13:25 GMT) 
HEALTH LIBRARY
 
 
 
 (http://www.cnn.com/mayo) 
â _Health Library_ (http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library)  


 
 
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- Fearing bad news as her  son suffered with a cough, 
aches and a sore throat, Donna Bultez found help in  the most common of places 
-- her neighborhood grocery  store.



Just feet from the beeping cash registers, a few steps behind the  
frosted-glass door, Bultez was relieved to find that her son Trevor Belmont  
wasn't 
suffering from strep throat. That she saved money by avoiding a trip to  the 
emergency room was good news, too. 
More and more stores -- from small-scale chains like Bultez' local Hy-Vee to  
megamarkets like Wal-Mart and Target -- have started trial runs with in-store 
 medical clinics. 
The concept is so new that analysts weren't sure how many clinics currently  
exist. They said retailers appear to be trying clinics as a way to increase 
foot  traffic in their stores, rather than rely on the clinics as an entirely 
new  revenue stream. 
The ventures are promising enough that America Online founder Steve Case put  
$500 million into a company that buys stakes in smaller companies that set up 
 the clinics. 
Except for a 20-minute wait, Trevor's visit to the Hy-Vee clinic seemed  
convenient at every turn. His pediatrician was out of his office this day and,  
without the walk-in service, Bultez might have considered an expensive trip to  
an emergency room to seek treatment. 
"This cost and convenience trend is coming to a head and that's what is  
driving this trend. My prediction is that it will move quite rapidly," said 
Matt  
Eyring, managing director of Innosight, a Watertown, Massachusetts, consulting 
 firm. 
The business model is simple -- a medical clinic operated by an outside  
company, and generally staffed by nurses or physician assistants, offers a  
limited range of basic tests and treatments at a lower cost than a doctor's  
office. 
Case invested heavily in Revolution Health Group, a company that, among other 
 things, is buying stakes in clinic operators. Its backers and board include  
former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly 
Fiorina  and former Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin Raines. 
Seattle-based health care analyst Kathleen O'Connor said it's difficult to  
say how many in-store clinics exist because the trend is so new and it is not  
clear whether anyone is tracking it. These clinics are different from the  
stand-alone sites sometimes referred to as a "doc in a box." 
The in-store clinics hope to evoke the idea of convenience with their very  
names -- Quick Care at the Omaha Hy-Vee; RediClinic, controlled by Revolution  
and one of four providers for Wal-Mart; and MinuteClinic, which has 70 clinics 
 in CVS pharmacies, Target Stores and Cub Foods supermarkets. 
Patients never need an appointment and can drop by after regular business  
hours. Many times, a patient might be heading to the store anyway for groceries 
 
and find it convenient to ask about that nagging cough or persistent  
headache. 
Bultez knew her visit with Trevor, 9, was all about convenience. 
"I will stay with my doctor. But if this works out good, I'd use it for a  
second alternative," said Bultez, 35, who stopped in the households aisle to 
buy 
 laundry detergent while at the Hy-Vee. 
Typically run by an outside source -- in Omaha's case, a state-wide health  
group called Alegent -- the clinics usually offer diagnoses and treatment for a 
 predefined set of minor illnesses, from ear infections to strep throat to  
bladder infections. Most offer vaccinations. 
Often, the price for care is listed on a message board, much like today's  
special on carrots or tomatoes. Quick Care will treat the flu or mononucleosis  
for $53. Treatment for bronchitis, colds and seasonal allergies costs $45. 
The MinuteClinic will treat cold sores, ear infections and minor burns for  
$49 in Minneapolis, but in Atlanta those ailments will be treated for $59. 
The RediClinic at Wal-Marts in Arkansas and Oklahoma and others, mainly in  
Texas, will not accept copays but will provide a detailed receipt for 
submission  to insurance providers. Others readily accept insurance plans and 
will 
charge  only the co-payment. 
Eyring said the clinics can operate at a lower cost to patients because there 
 is less overhead for medical office equipment. Cotton swabs, tongue 
depressors  and simple lab work are all that's needed to diagnose strep throat. 
That low overhead, of course, means there are limits on what the clinics can  
do. 
"The biggest hazard is that people could get the impression that these things 
 could be a usual source of care, which they can't be," said Dr. Larry S. 
Fields,  the president of the American Academy of Family Practitioners. 
Fields, who practices in Ashland, Kentucky, said clinics are a positive step  
because they expand access -- as long as the clinics can tell the difference  
between a minor ailment and something that needs a doctor's attention. 
He said many of his patients have gone to walk-in clinics but still wind up  
with him because they don't sense a continuity of care. "They realize there's  
not that history. They're not familiar," he said. 
But for the quick fix, clinics can generally see patients much quicker at a  
lower cost, Eyring said. When a patient's only alternatives are expensive 
visits  to a doctor or an emergency room, he might forgo treatment altogether. 
So far, the clinics are run mainly by local and regional startup companies.  
Kroger and CVS are testing clinics in select markets, as are large retailers  
Wal-Mart and Target. 
"Wal-Mart is the kind of player that has the power to do it in a big way if  
it pans out for them and their test mode is successful," said Sandra J. 
Skrovan,  head of food, drug and mass retailing research at consultant Retail 
Forward Inc.  in Columbus, Ohio. 
Eight Wal-Mart stores have set up clinics since September and another four  
are scheduled to open by mid-March. 
"We'll certainly grow this business if it makes sense," Wal-Mart spokeswoman  
Sharon Weber said. "I can tell you the customers have been very pleased." 
With the number of Americans without health insurance at 45.8 million in  
2004, the clinics hope to reach consumers who have to pay out of pocket for  
doctor's visits -- even for simple problems. 
"Is this a trend that is here to stay? Yes," Eyring  said.

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