AMA: You won't see any Minute Clinics in poor, urban areas

Some are wondering whether these “fast-food” clinics cater to the rich and suburban:

More than a dozen AMA delegates testified before a committee Sunday, raising numerous concerns, including whether retailers were cherry-picking patients in suburban areas.
“I don’t think you will find any of these clinics in the inner city,” Dr. Arthur Snow, an AMA delegate and family physician from Shawnee Mission, Kan., not far from Walgreens’ targeted expansion in the Kansas City area. “I’m concerned about the care.”
Retail-clinic developers and the nurse practitioners on staff defend the model as an important and convenient way for consumers to access the health-care system, particularly for the 45 million uninsured Americans who cannot afford traditional doctors.

Comments

Peter Lucash
Oh, come on! You won’t find a lot of private physicians in poor areas either. There is a reason for these clinics, much the way the “doc in the box” movement of the early 1980s.
These clinics address one piece of the puzzle. They do not, nor can they, solve all healthcare needs.
Anonymous
Peter,
thats all fine and good, but these MinuteClinic guys have been lying the whole time, stating that the reason for this is to expand healthcare to people who cant get it.
Clearly, thats a crock of shit. Its a money making opportunity, thats all.
So as long as you admit what these clinics are, money making opps, and quit wrpaping it up in BS, then i’ve got no problem with it
=pharmacy student=
In response to Anon 4:23, I think that some good does come out of having these clinics in that they will likely examine a lot of patients that otherwise would not go to the doctor. Being that these clinics are in grocery stores and drug stores and that no appointment is needed, it’s just too convenient. I think the clinics are a good thing just on that benefit alone.
Anonymous
I agree with =pharmacy student=.
Anon 4:23, most businesses are money-making opportunities. If you want you can try the following business model:
1. Treat poor and indigent and not get paid.
2. ???
3. Profit
Maybe you can solve that critical second step.
Anonymous
I’m a doctor, and my practice is a money making opportunity, and it had better stay that way!
The minute clinics aren’t going to take anything from doctors’ practices. They probably will capture some of the stuff doctors would rather not do, like see people with colds. They aren’t going to be able to treat complicated stuff; they likely have very specific criteria for referral to higher levels of care, likely thanks to the sponsoring stores’ lawyers. The concern here is misplaced. I don’t see any more a threat here than I do from the “free” clinic for the indigent or the federally-funded family practice clinic down the street, which is nil.
These are conveniences, like the grocery store pharmacies they are paired with. They are supposed to create profit by conveniently creating a supply of prescriptioins that can be filled under the same roof. If they fail, they get replaced by display racks of laxatives. The whole thing isn’t worth thinking about, never mind losing sleep over.

AMA: You won’t see any Minute Clinics in poor, urban areas

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