Almost everyone I know received their "flu shot" from a store clinic. This is a service whose time has come and professional groups will be unsuccessful in stopping it.
My mom was just sick and I took her to one of these. They did a strep test, a flu test, and diagnosed it as viral, which you can't do anything about.
Unless these quick clinics hand out antibiotics for viral illnesses or miss warning signs, they're much better than bothering another doctor with minor problems.
Yeah, interesting. I visit urgent care facilities from time to time, but I also have a PCP that I'll go to for more serious things. I've generally had good experiences, and it just doesn't make too much sense to me to go to my PCP when all I need is a guy to write me a prescription.
I think a line from the article is telling: "Van Vleck agrees: 'When I see a kid for a sore throat, I get to go through their chart. If they have a little bit of scoliosis I might check their spine. I will check their immunization record. We go over the record, and we try to go over what's going on besides the sore throat, or besides the ear infection.'"
Translation: I add on a bunch of services that the patient hasn't requested, and then I charge them for those services.
These clinics will continue to prosper as long as it takes up to a week to make a sick visit....and 3 months to make an appt for a well visit to a physician.
Heck this is what we're getting anyway with our primary care physicians. Every time I visit, I'm in and out in under five minutes with a prescription, and this is presuming that an appointment is available when I need it. My wife had some kind of bug last week, and she couldn't even get in to see her doc period, and she ended up just treating herself with Thera-flu.
As this article strongly implies, I just think that the regular docs feel threatened and that they don't want to adjust their hours or fees to compete. Go clinics!
If a little clinic messes up, they'll get sued, just like a big clinic.
Meanwhile, a lot of people get at least some kind of care right away that they would otherwise have to wait for.
So here's an outfit that puts the lie to that by making it work profitably. More power to them say I.
I am a physician and have no problem if patients want to go to these type of clinics for minor things. But do not go for routine care. As a matter of fact if we get Hiliary care I plan on doing something like this. I do not want to have to directly work for the government and have made up my mind I will quit or do something like this. I have even seriously though of writing a letter to Wal-Mart headuarters and letting them know if they want to open one up in the town I live in I would be glad to work for Wal-Mart. I have about had it with .gov interference and poor pay by .gov and after today I am tired of running off all the drug abusers who try to get me to prescribe the two favorites--Vicoden and Xanax. Had a patient drive 3/4 across the state hoping I would be his doctor cause no one between here and there would prescribe him the meds he wanted. I said no and did not charge the guy.
I went to the Wal Mart clinic...they cut the price of everything. What I love about PAs and the other techs is that they actually listen carefully. If they feel it's out of their hands they tell you to go to a specialist.
OTOH, there are "some" Gen Practice doctors that are horrible in everyway. And when they can't answer the problem, they want to go further instead of admitting their clinic of specialists can't help.