Though retail clinic firms don't seem much slowed by their efforts, medical associations around the country continue to make efforts to regulate their operations. The latest front in this battle seems to have emerged in Tennessee, where the Tennessee Medical Association is looking at proposing additional regs that would impact retail clinics.
Originally, the Association had planned to ask the state's Board of Medical Examiners to impose rules which would require a supervising doctor to be within 30 miles of a clinic and spend additional time on site. This expands on existing rules, which require nurse practitioners to be supervised by a doctor, but don't specify how close the supervising doctor needs to be geographically. After noting that the clinics can have some beneficial effects, particularly on access for rural patients, the TMA has since backed off from its original proposal, but still plans to recommend other unspecified rule changes.
To learn more about the Tennessee retail clinic situation:
- read this piece from The Tennessean
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