Editor's Corner

Retail clinics have been a hot topic for quite some time here at FierceHealthcare. Along the way, we've covered some stumbles among the competitors and given space to pundits who think the whole trend is overblown. But as we see it, over the past six months the retail clinic model has matured, and even had some major effects on the rest of the industry:

• Established practices get involved: Today, large California health system Sutter Health announced that it would be putting "Sutter Express Care" retail clinics into several RiteAids in the Sacramento area (release). The clinics record clinical information in EMRs, which send information directly to Sutter providers if the patient moves further into the system. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a large, respected medical organization has gone directly into the retail clinic business rather than, say, supervising care. It's definitely the first in California, according to the California Healthcare Foundation. Nice move on Sutter's part; an all-cash business with no need to process claims is sweet, and besides, it serves as a referral source for their hospitals with little office overhead.
  
• Delivery of e-care grows: Obviously, there's been this little thing called the Internet for a while now. But with retail clinics beginning to offer a new level of convenience, traditional primary care practices need to fire back with their own convenience offense. For that reason, some are beginning to take "e-care"--the use of Web portals and e-mail to transact with patients--a lot more seriously. The tools and technology to do this are still primitive, but expect this market to blossom over the next twelve months, with patient-doctor communication, patient health record and scheduling capabilities thrown into the mix.
  
• Concierge care goes mainstream: With retail clinics occupying the "quick-and-dirty" niche, people are expecting more high-touch services from their primary care doctors. Consider approaches  like the model proposed by MDVIP, which is working to take the super-expensive executive healthcare practice model and make it a bit more democratic. By providing technology and centralized care models, MDVIP's model has managed to get practices down to as little as 600 patients per doctor, and fees down to about $125 per month, something your average middle-class family may be able to afford. I'm no actuary, but I'm betting that under the right circumstances, that monthly figure can decrease even further, to the point where just about anyone outside of the working poor and indigent can have a more relaxed primary care experience.

Meanwhile, with the number of retail clinic entrants growing, the list of retail sites that want to host such clinics expanding, and other services, such as laboratory testing, popping up in retail settings, it looks like a retail medicine free-for-all. (Next step, as I see it: a smart operator pulling together several retail medical services into a turnkey package.) In the mean time, this should be fun to watch. I'm pulling up my chair and breaking out the popcorn. - Anne

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