The major retail drug store chains such as Walgreens and CVS have been successful in deploying walk-in clinics in their stores that are now beginning to offer routine lab testing (see: Lab Testing Now Being Offered in Walgreens California Stores). I suspect that Rite Aid may be feeling left out of this competition so it's now offering "memory tests" that are purported to serve as an early warning for Alzheimer's disease (see: After That Prescription, Let's Test Your Memory). Below is an excerpt from an article about this news:
Memory tests given at Rite Aid drugstores as an early warning for Alzheimer’s...are drawing fire from doctors who say the screenings don’t work well and may cause fear among people who don’t have the disease. The drugstore chain is making the tests available this month at more than 4,000 stores in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA)....The 5- to 10-minute test of oral and written questions screens for early memory loss, including symptoms tied to Alzheimer’s and dementia....The screenings raise disease awareness and may spur a consumer to see a doctor early, says Carol Steinberg, the foundation’s president. Some physicians, though, argue that the tests can be inaccurate and that people who do poorly may spend time and money worrying about a disease they don’t have. They say the tests should be given in a medical setting, with the results assessed by a professional trained in memory loss detection....The tests at Rite Aid were first offered on June 4 at no cost as part of the chain’s “wellness65+ Wednesday” events, which encourage the elderly to manage their health. Rite Aid is offering additional screenings this month at select stores.....The AFA provided the paper tests, called a Mini-Cog. The test involves asking patients to remember three unrelated words, drawing the numbers of a clock into an empty circle, drawing hands to a specific time on that clock, then asking the patient to recall the three words again. The test may show memory issues, but there is limited evidence supporting its use as a diagnostic tool for dementia, researchers said in [a recent journal article].
It's one thing for retail drug stores to offer relatively simple lab tests such as serum cholesterol and glucose for which there are standard quality control measures. It's quite another matter to offer a paper-and-pencil test for memory loss that may be indicative of Alzheimer's disease. The diagnosis of this disease is extremely complex and should be left to the experts although I do support the general idea of local drug stores acting as health centers for some routine procedures.
I can understand the appeal of such a memory test to the Rite Aid executives and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA). For them, free screening of an older customer cohort brings traffic to the stores. There is also no need to buy expensive lab testing equipment as in the case of wet lab tests. For the AFA, an umbrella consortium of 1,700 organizations, the program can perhaps be viewed as providing consumer education about the disease. Unstated in the article are what royalties are being paid to the foundation for this co-branding. In my opinion, suffice it to say that this program is an overreach by both Rite Aid and the AFA that may do more harm than good. Here's a quote from an article on this topic with which I personally agree (see: Rite Aid Memory Test Triggers Needless Fear of Alzheimer's, Doctors Say):
While the drugstore chain’s partnership with the foundation may raise awareness about dementia, “there are huge problems with large scale screening at this point,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at the NYU Langone Medical Center. “This diagnosis is so feared, so terrifying to people that doing a well-intended but not extremely accurate or well-counseled program can lead to a lot of trouble.”
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