Retail clinic talk

I was quoted in a recent article talking about retail clinics – Dr. Wal-Mart will see you now:

Patients aren’t the only ones potentially at risk from the in-store clinic boom. Doctors themselves run the risk of being closed out like so many other businesses in Wal-Mart’s mammoth wake.

“There are a lot of doctors who see (in-store clinics) as a threat because these clinics skim off quick visits and leave behind more time-consuming cases,” said Dr. Kevin Pho, an internal medicine physician in New Hampshire.

Describing the problem as a “perfect storm,” Pho says the in-store clinic boom capitalizes on physician shortages and lack of access to primary care doctors. “They definitely fill a need. It goes to show there aren’t enough primary care physicians out there when you have people waiting weeks for an appointment.”

But this doesn’t mean doctor’s offices will become a thing of the past. Many physicians are already adapting to this industry trend by partnering with retail clinics as referrals when patients need further care. “As a primary care physician, you could either see it as a threat or an opportunity,” said Pho.