Retail clinics have grown in popularity with patients, and that demand may hold benefits for the healthcare system overall, according to a blog post on Health Affairs.
The convenience and ease of access provided by retail clinics has made them especially attractive to millennial patients, a constituency that large insurance carriers have not traditionally targeted.
The post looks at where retail clinics fit into the healthcare value equation, especially in light of survey results published in the March 2016 edition of Health Affairs demonstrating that new healthcare utilization accounts for fully 58 percent of retail clinic visits. Increased utilization means more spending, which seems like a net negative for a system looking to decrease its costs, but the authors argue that other factors in the current healthcare climate justify the spending:
- The added cost to the system amounts to roughly $14 per person, according to the survey. Extrapolating from this number, the blog post suggests any rise in premiums to cover the increased cost system-wide would be negligible.
- The convenience factor makes clinics a go-to option for consumers seeking basic preventive care, such as vaccines, or for those who don't have a primary care physician, all of which offers improved population health.
- In the face of newly covered patients due to the Affordable Care Act, combined with the physician shortage, access to care is likely to be an ongoing issue, and the post sees the low cost and high convenience offered by retail clinics as a promising way to fill the gap.
To learn more:
- see the blog post
- here's the survey