Milk, Eggs & 1 Strep Test, Please

September 2006 Special Sections

When Matt Haugen noticed an itchy, red rash on his hands and face the day after going kayaking in early June, he needed to find a doctor. But as a self-employed massage therapist with no health insurance, he followed a tip from a friend and headed to a nearby MinuteClinic at Cub Foods in Minnetonka. Twenty minutes later, he drove home with a diagnosis of poison ivy, two prescriptions, and a good feeling about the experience. 

Getting Inside the Trend
Haugen’s decision to seek medical care in a retail clinic like the Minneapolis-based MinuteClinics, rather than in a traditional primary care setting, is one consumers are making more and more as time and money have become increasingly important considerations.

But while the trend toward “convenience care” is indisputable, there is some debate over the quality and scope of care these clinics can deliver. Although a physician is always available by phone, the clinics are only staffed by physician assistants and nurse practitioners, and there is a clear limit to the services they offer. “We do not take care of headaches, abdominal pain, back pain, or cuts and sprains,” says Jim Woodburn, MD, chief medical officer of MinuteClinics. “Those are conditions that [consumers] should take to a primary care physician or an emergency room.” 

Beverly Krueger, a registered nurse and administrator at Southdale Pediatric Associates Ltd., worries about the risk of valuing speed over thoroughness and high-quality, comprehensive care. “More often than not, we see patients a day or two after having used one of these [convenience] clinics. This can be due to not getting better, [but it also] makes care very fractioned,” she says.

Although many in the health care community share Krueger’s concerns, it seems consumers do not. Loie Lenarz, MD, chief clinical officer for Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis, says retail clinics are an answer to market demand. “Indications are that there will be many more retail clinics than there are today,” she says. “The single most significant driving factor is consumer expectations around accessibility and service, and the health care industry has historically been very poor at understanding that we need to meet those customer needs.”

Patients seeking more convenient care have also turned to urgent care centers to address routine medical needs. According to Jon Bylander, MD, chair of the department of urgent care in St. Louis Park, his department recorded 214,000 patient visits in 2005, a 15 percent increase from the year before. “There seems to be a need out there for access that’s not being fulfilled by the regular primary care clinics or even specialty clinics at times, so it’s a void that we’re filling,” he says.

Transparent Prices and Customer Mentality
Matt Kramer, vice president of sales and marketing for NOW Medical Centers in Minnetonka, says the growth of retail clinics stems from consumers taking more responsibility for their health needs and the development of high-deductible health plans, or health savings accounts. These type of health plans give consumers control of their health care dollars by furnishing them with a savings account to pay for medical expenses. “Health care is literally the most bizarre industry in America because there is no transparency in pricing,” he says. “As the prevalence of consumer health savings accounts increases, people are going to ask ‘how much does this cost?’”

NOW Medical Centers has six free-standing urgent care centers and three retail clinics, and it hopes to open twelve more retail clinics by the fall. “It’s all about referring to our customers as customers—not as patients,” Kramer says. “It’s about treating them like any other customers in the retail environment.”