Retail Clinics

Study: Retail clinic users don't have personal doctors

Anne Zieger — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:50:59 -0400

For years now, many primary care physicians have battled the rise of retail clinics, arguing that such clinics would interfere with their patient relationships. However, a new study suggests that their fears are misplaced--as the patients may never have been theirs in the first place.

Retail clinics are attracting patients who largely don't have a primary care relationship in the first place, according to a survey by Rand Corp. More than 40 percent of patients visiting retail clinics were ages 18 to 44. Meanwhile, 23 percent of that group had a primary care doctor relationship, said researchers, who looked at more than 1.3 million visits to retail clinics from 2000 to 2007.

Researchers speculate that such patients value the convenience of the clinics more than the continuity of care a private physician can offer. The study comes as the number of retail clinics in the U.S. surges past 1,000, driven largely by giants like pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Chicago Tribune article

Related Articles:
FTC slams IL physicians' retail clinic rules
AMA demands retail clinic regs, backs off ban
Doctors push law regulating retail clinics
Wal-Mart plans 2,000 retail clinics
Retail clinics mostly utilized for simple treatments
SLIDESHOW: Common retail-clinic locations

Mexican firm opens U.S. retail clinics

Anne Zieger — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:10:11 -0400

A Mexican healthcare company has opened three Miami-area retail pharmacies with a largely Latino clientèle, putting a new, ethnically-focused twist on the U.S. retail clinic market. The clinics are owned by Mexico City-based Samoho, which operates retail clinics in a few Wal-Mart stores there. They're affiliated with Miami's Mercy Hospital, and staffed by local physicians, rather than nurse practitioners, as is usually the case with such clinics. The clinics are based in locations of a local chain, Navarro Discount Pharmacies. Samoho already operates an urgent care center in Miami under the MediGo name, and it plans to open more retail clinics and urgent care centers in South Florida over the next few years. As with its competitors, Samoho expects the clinics to become profitable within two years.

While the retail clinic market seems to be consolidating, with some locations closing and poorly capitalized chains folding, this strategy seems likely to succeed. A slow, careful expansion in markets where Samoho has a cultural and linguistic advantage should give it a leg up over those firms that have jumped quickly into the market with little to differentiate themselves. The only question is whether they'll be able to sustain a model based on higher physician salaries. We'll see.

To learn more about this story:
- read this Wall Street Journal piece

Related Articles:
MA sets retail clinic rules
SLIDESHOW: Common Retail Clinic Locations
Walgreens battles CVS for MA retail clinic market
Retail clinics begin closing

Retail clinics begin closing

Anne Zieger — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:32:20 -0400

While nobody's suggesting that the retail clinic market is about to dry up and blow away, signs continue to suggest that its first major growth phase is at an end--and that it's not going to be as easy for smaller players to enter as it has been in the past. The biggest sign of this is the fact that there's been a rash of clinic closings of late, including the following:

* 44 outlets have closed in Wal-Mart stores, under the brands SmartCare, My Healthy Access and Checkups.

* Seven MedBasics Family Health Centers closed in Texas and Arkansas.

* MinuteClinic closed three Minnesota outlets, each freestanding, to focus on its CVS-based outlets.

Analyst firm Merchant Medicine, which focuses on retail clinics, is arguing that the industry is "close to saturation" and predicts that execs are going to be "more thoughtful" about where they expand. I'd argue that this is a mischaracterization, however, I believe execs have been trying out business models and are now pulling back, in some cases two years into the game, when it becomes clear that one variation of the business model doesn't pull as well. While there seems to have been some rash expansions, particularly in the case of CheckUps, the industry has otherwise built in a steady fashion.

When it comes to retail clinics, look for pharmacy rather than other retail-based clinics to advance, and affiliations with existing healthcare players (especially hospital systems) rather than deals with independent players. However, don't expect independent players to go away. Slow and steady players should still be able to build quite a nice business if they move slowly. Retail clinics are entering the next growth phase.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this Minneapolis Star-Tribune article

Related Articles:
Resource Center: Retail Clinics
Start-up closes 23 Wal-Mart retail clinics
Expansion of retail clinics slowing
SLIDESHOW: Common retail clinic locations

Retail clinic market growth slowing

Anne Zieger — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:18:15 -0400

With the U.S. economy facing problems and investment firms tired of waiting for a payoff, the retail clinic market expansion is slowing down, according one industry watcher. According to research and consulting firm Merchant Medicine, which advises providers and employers on how to work within the retail clinic industry, the number of retail clinics in the U.S. fell by 12 last month to a total of 969. This was the first net drop the firm had recorded in the two years it had been following the sector. A year ago, in contrast, the clinics were opening at a rate of roughly one per day, according to the firm.

In today's market, clinics that are backed by giants--such as Walgreens, which bought clinic operator Take Care Health Systems--are doing better than those that lease space from retailers and run their operations independently. Even being based in a high-traffic location like a Wal-Mart offers no guarantee of success. For example, early this year New York-based CheckUps closed up 23 retail clinic locations based in Wal-Marts, unable to pay all of its bills. (Wal-Mart has since said that it plans to focus more on partnering with hospitals on retail clinics.)

Part of the reason for slowing expansion in this niche may be the relatively long time it takes for such ventures to become profitable. For example, while Walgreens' retail clinics are seeing a profit in St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., it took two years for them to get there. Particularly given today's difficult credit market, any private investors are reluctant to wait that long, researchers note. For example, investors recently pulled out funding for a physician-staffed model of retail medicine known as Medical Marts.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this Chicago Tribune piece

Related Articles:
Medical Marts offers doctor-staffed retail clinics
Start-up closes 23 Wal-Mart retail clinics
New TX venture offers twist on retail clinic model
Wal-Mart plans 2,000 retail clinics

New TX venture offers twist on retail clinic model

Anne Zieger — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:46:06 -0400

In an interesting mashup of retail clinic and telemedical models, a group of Houston-based Wal-Marts will soon begin offering walk-in telemedical consults. The service is being offered by a partnership between retail clinic operator My Healthy Access and NuPhysicia, which operates using telemedicine approaches developed by the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Under the agreement, paramedics will do the patient examination under a doctor's direct supervision, using NuPhysicia's telemedical technology. In this model of retail care, the telemedicine consult replaces the traditional retail clinic visit, under which patients are managed by nurse practitioners under a physician's broad oversight.

To our knowledge, Wal-Mart is the first major player that is experimenting with offering telemedicine as a retail care approach. However, Wal-Mart's experiment is likely to generate followers if it's even slightly successful, as recruiting local nurse practitioners for clinics is always a challenge.

To learn more about this model:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece
- read this press release

Related Articles:
Despite benefits, telemedicine barriers remain high
Study: Telemedicine could save $4.2 billion annually
Doctors push law regulating retail clinics
Wal-Mart plans 2,000 retail clinics

Expansion of retail clinics slowing

Sterling Meyers — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:19:13 -0400

Merchant Medicine, a Minneapolis-based research and retail clinic consulting firm, found that 12 retail clinics were shut down in June--a sign of the slow, but steady growth for retail clinics. The clinics were shuttered because of a weak economy and investment firms that have grown impatient, according to Merchant Medicine, which has been tracking the progress of retail clinics for two years. Although there are 969 retail clinics in the United States, June was the first month the firm has seen a net drop, said Tom Charland, the firm's chief executive.

The clinics that seem to shut down with the most regularity are those that are not financed by private investors who partner with large retailers. Charland said that when big retail clinics close, it's likely because they're backed by private investors rather than by large retailers. Figures show that in 2007, retail clinics opened at a rate of one each day, and despite last month's decrease, Charland said that this month's numbers have shown continued growth, thus far.

Walgreens plans to have 400 clinics--operating under the Take Care Health Systems brand--in place by the start of 2009. A spokesman for Walgreens noted that it has taken about three years for the retail clinics to start turning a profit consistently. Wal-Mart said it will open 400 in the next three years.

To learn more about this:
- read this Inside Health Care piece

FTC slams IL physicians' retail clinic rules

Anne Zieger — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:13:53 -0400

In a move that could set back national physician efforts to control the evolution of retail clinics, the Federal Trade Commission has labeled retail clinic regs backed by Illinois doctors as anti-competitive and bad for consumers. The FTC letter criticizes a bill pending in the Illinois state legislature that would require permits for the facilities, limit their capacity for advertising and mandate greater physician involvement in their operations. It issued the critique at the request of a state legislator who asked for the agency's input on the pending bill.

The FTC, in short, said it didn't like what it saw. "Because several of the bill's requirements would pertain only to retail clinics--and not other health-care facilities offering the same services or staffing--those requirements could put retail clinics at a competitive disadvantage without offering countervailing consumer benefits," the agency said.

Even this critique may not stop the Illinois State Medical Society, which has been a vocal opponent of retail clinic models. However, the FTC's input has shaped how regulations have evolved in other states, such as Massachusetts, where state health officials dropped proposals to regulate retail clinic ads on FTC advice.

To learn more about the FTC's position:
- read this Chicago Tribune piece

Related Articles:
MA doctors protest CVS retail clinic expansion
AMA demands retail clinic regs, backs off ban
Doctors push law regulating retail clinics
Wal-Mart plans 2,000 retail clinics

Trend: Urgent care clinic industry expanding again

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 06:59:54 -0400

It's beginning to look like convenient care is on the rise--and not just in the retail clinic sector. While the retail clinic market expansion has gotten most of the attention, the urgent care industry is seeing some new growth as well. Recent estimates suggest that the volume of U.S. urgent care clinics has gone from a steady decline to a growth rate of about two clinics a week. While the growth in retail clinics is likely to outstrip that by a considerable margin, it's still worth noting for an industry which had stalled throughout the 90s.

Observers note that the growth in urgent care centers compliments, rather than competes with, emerging retail clinics. While urgent care centers see a slightly more acute patient, treating conditions like fractures and sprains, lacerations and abdominal illnesses, retail clinics typically limit themselves to low-complexity treatments for conditions such as strep throat and bladder infections. Retail clinics are actually beginning to refer to urgent care centers, in fact, according to urgent care administrators.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this Triangle Business Journal item

Related Articles:
Resource center: Retail clinics. Special section
AMA demands retail clinic regs, backs off ban request. Report
MA doctors protest CVS retail clinic expansion. Report
Doctors push law regulating retail clinics. Report
Retail clinics: thousands on the way? Analysis

Walgreens sets retail clinic expansion plans

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

Walgreens subsidiary Take Care Health Systems has announced plans to scale up its operations dramatically. Take Care, which has 63 clinics in four cities, now says it will open up 100 additional clinics in nine new markets, a move which will nearly triple the number of sites it manages. All will be based within Walgreens drugstores.

Take Care's latest clinics locations will cut across the U.S., with targeted markets including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, TN, Orlando, FL, Tampa, FL, and Tucson, AZ.

While launching 100 new locations is no joke, it's just an opening shot for Take Care, which is actually hoping to roll out 400 clinics by the end of 2008. Given that its competitors have similar visions, 2008 should be a pivotal year for this industry, so stay tuned.

To find out more about the expansion:
- read this Associated Press article

Related Articles:
Wal-Mart plans 2,000 retail clinics. Report
Retail clinics: Accepting the inevitable. Report
AMA demands retail clinic regs, backs off ban. Report

The retail clinic buzz

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

As many of you know, we'll be holding a free Webinar on September 12 at 2:00 PM EST addressing the growth of the retail clinic market. Registration has been brisk, but we still have room for participants, so we encourage you to reserve your seat.

At this seminar, we're looking forward to holding a lively discussion on the retail clinic market, from the point of view of both a retail clinic operator and a health system executive building out retail clinics. We're looking forward to your questions and comments--and so are our distinguished speakers.

Meanwhile, to get your mind in gear, here's an exclusive FierceHealthcare interview with retail clinic chain CEO Dr. Steven Cooley, one of the two presenters at the clinic. Learn how Cooley plans to build enough volume to be successful, what his strategy is and how he plans to cope with retail clinic critics.

Also, we encourage you to check out our new retail clinic resource center, which includes a wide range of information on the industry as a whole. If there's a resource we can offer which you'd find helpful, but isn't present, please let us know.

We look forward to seeing you at the Webinar! - Anne