Retail Clinics Shift Care Delivery Assumptions

The MinuteClinic that opened up across town may be too small and specialized to pose a direct threat to your facility. Still, taken as a whole, the retail clinic sector has probably had more of an effect on your business than your realized. Most observers believe that the no-frills, high-convenience retail care delivery model began to have an impact on traditional providers in 2006, pushing consumers to expect cheaper, easier-to-access primary care than they were used to in the past. Smart health execs have already begun to see the implications of retail care delivery, rolling out alternatives like on-demand physician house calls and hands-on concierge care to distinguish themselves from bare-bones retail clinic offerings.

Over the past year, the retail clinic industry has rolled out locations rapidly, not only at pharmacy sites but also at grocery chains such as Winn-Dixie and mega-retail stores like Wal-Mart and Target. Interestingly, laboratory services provider LabCorp got into the game too, starting with 20 New York city drugstores.

Since retail clinics don't come with the capital costs, managed care contracting administration or hiring concerns facing a traditional medical practice or facility, smaller entrepreneurs have been able to get in, competing with well-funded players like AOL's Steve Case (Revolution Health) and former HCA leader Rick Scott (Solantic) for choice "real estate" within the better-positioned retail outlets. This has led to a continued shakeout in the marketplace during the past 12 months, with clinic locations opening and closing, larger providers shifting alliances and bigger players (like CVS) taking control of retail clinic chains like MinuteClinic.

Given their relatively low patient volume, it's clear that the retail clinic market is still at an early stage. Nonetheless, it's hard to argue that the retail clinic model made significant strides last year.