Health Systems Launch Walk-In Clinics

I have written a number of previous notes about walk-in clinics that are being opened in big-box stores and retail pharmacies across the country (links here, here, here, and here). Most of these clinics are staffed by nurses rather than physicians, treat only a limited range of conditions, and have a posted fee schedule that is approximately half the charges in a private physician office. It seemed to me that it was only a question of time before large health systems discovered this new healthcare delivery model and got into the game. Here is a link to a story indicating that this is now happening and below is an excerpt from it:

...[R]etail health clinics are spreading fast in supermarkets, drugstores and big-box chains across the country.... The phenomenon has been largely driven by small start-up chains, such as MinuteClinic, RediClinic and Take Care Health Systems, which run the outlets under agreement with retailers and have had few formal ties to the medical establishment. Now, traditional medical providers are stepping up to the counter....Some large regional health-care systems are starting their own clinics directly with retail partners, while other medical groups and doctors offices are signing contracts to supervise clinic staff, and striking up referral arrangements with retail clinics. In southeastern New Jersey..., AtlantiCare, the region's largest health-care system with about 450 staff physicians and a network that includes two hospitals and a health plan, will open its first in-store HealthRite clinic .... Geisinger Health System, of Danville, Pa., with hospitals, physician practices and other health services, is opening its first CareWorks Convenient Healthcare clinic..... Memorial Baptist Health system in South Bend, Ind., is operating Medpoint express centers in local Wal-Mart Super Centers.

I believe that the entry of health systems into this new market is a very important development for the following reasons:

• Most of the retail walk-in clinics opened thus far have provided only a limited set of services. The managers of these clinics have thus had a need to establish referral relationships with physicians in the community and with emergency departments in local hospitals. When existing health systems establish walk-in clinics in shopping centers, they will not face this barrier.
• The lab tests offered by most of the existing walk-in clinics have been restricted to CLIA waived tests, if any testing is offered at all. The proposed walk-in clinics that are extensions of existing health systems will surely offer a much larger repertoire of tests, many of them POCT, that will enhance the quality of the care delivered.
• I am encouraged by the entrepreneurship of the health systems that are testing the waters with this new form of healthcare delivery. The for-profit walk-in clinics have been appropriately criticized for possible lapses in continuity of care, which should not be a problem when they are extensions of existing local health care systems.

Comments

[d mazzuca, MSN, ARNP, BC]

In your article you state that retail healthcare clinics are manned by nurses. The truth is they are manned by board certified nurse practitioners. There is a huge difference in the scope of practice. JUst FYI.