Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Can "MinuteClinics" relieve overburdened ERs?
[Michelle Andrews, "Next to the Express Checkout, Express Medical Care," The New York Times, 18 July 2004.]
Coming soon to a grocery store near you: express medical care. Staffed by nurse practitioners, these speedy and low-cost alternatives to doctor's visits are certainly not the answer to rising health care costs. But, they may serve as part of the answer to the reliance of the uninsured on the most expensive form of medical care - the emergency room.
When Jodi West woke up one Friday in May with a weepy, crusty right eye, she rinsed her face and hoped that it would clear up on its own. By the next morning, the infection had spread to both eyes, and she realized that she would have to see someone about it. But she knew that she would have to be quick: her 7-year-old daughter was dancing in two recitals that day. So they got in the car and drove off, not to a hospital emergency room, but to the Target store in Shoreview, Minn., about 15 minutes from their home in Centerville.
There, at a clinic in the store, they went to a kiosk and signed the register. After about five minutes, a nurse practitioner ushered Ms. West, 37, into a tiny examining room. She asked a few questions, examined her eyes, wrote a prescription and sent them on their way. "It took 20 minutes, tops," Ms. West said. "I wish these clinics had been around when my son was young and getting ear infections all the time."
The clinics, called MinuteClinics, are cropping up in Target and Cub Foods stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Now in 10 stores, the MinuteClinics aim to diagnose and treat about a dozen common ailments -- like strep throat, sinus and ear infections and seasonal allergies -- in about 15 minutes. They also provide vaccinations and offer screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure problems.
Because waiting times can stretch into hours at doctors' offices, urgent-care clinics and emergency rooms, the clinics' slogan, "You're sick, we're quick," has a powerful appeal.
The concept is catching on in other cities. Since last fall, clinics with names like FastCare, Quick Care and MEDspot have opened in cities like Milwaukee, Louisville, Ky., and Fort Wayne, Ind. Though the services vary and only some accept insurance, they share a commitment: "It's all about saving people time," said Linda Hall Whitman, the chief executive of MinuteClinic.
The clinics are popular because they are fast -- and relatively cheap. At MinuteClinic, a visit to test for strep throat costs $44, versus an average of $109 at a doctor's office or $328 in an emergency room, according to the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, a trade group.
Steve Pontius, a founder of MinuteClinic, said he and his two partners came up with the idea for it in 1999 while talking about the trouble of taking children to a doctor for simple ailments. Once, Mr. Pontius said, he was sure that his son, then 5, had an ear infection. "When it's your fourth child, you just know," he said. After they waited three hours at an urgent-care clinic, a doctor examined him. In three minutes, he gave the expected diagnosis.
"We thought if we could find a way to deliver the service quickly and conveniently, that people would be willing to pay for that," Mr. Pontius said.
More than 142,000 patient visits later, it looks as if they were right. In August, MinuteClinic will open three new clinics at Targets in Minnesota. And with plans to open in other states, MinuteClinic or one of its rivals may soon be in a supermarket or discount store near you.
[Michelle Andrews, "Next to the Express Checkout, Express Medical Care," The New York Times, 18 July 2004.]
Coming soon to a grocery store near you: express medical care. Staffed by nurse practitioners, these speedy and low-cost alternatives to doctor's visits are certainly not the answer to rising health care costs. But, they may serve as part of the answer to the reliance of the uninsured on the most expensive form of medical care - the emergency room.
When Jodi West woke up one Friday in May with a weepy, crusty right eye, she rinsed her face and hoped that it would clear up on its own. By the next morning, the infection had spread to both eyes, and she realized that she would have to see someone about it. But she knew that she would have to be quick: her 7-year-old daughter was dancing in two recitals that day. So they got in the car and drove off, not to a hospital emergency room, but to the Target store in Shoreview, Minn., about 15 minutes from their home in Centerville.
There, at a clinic in the store, they went to a kiosk and signed the register. After about five minutes, a nurse practitioner ushered Ms. West, 37, into a tiny examining room. She asked a few questions, examined her eyes, wrote a prescription and sent them on their way. "It took 20 minutes, tops," Ms. West said. "I wish these clinics had been around when my son was young and getting ear infections all the time."
The clinics, called MinuteClinics, are cropping up in Target and Cub Foods stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Now in 10 stores, the MinuteClinics aim to diagnose and treat about a dozen common ailments -- like strep throat, sinus and ear infections and seasonal allergies -- in about 15 minutes. They also provide vaccinations and offer screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure problems.
Because waiting times can stretch into hours at doctors' offices, urgent-care clinics and emergency rooms, the clinics' slogan, "You're sick, we're quick," has a powerful appeal.
The concept is catching on in other cities. Since last fall, clinics with names like FastCare, Quick Care and MEDspot have opened in cities like Milwaukee, Louisville, Ky., and Fort Wayne, Ind. Though the services vary and only some accept insurance, they share a commitment: "It's all about saving people time," said Linda Hall Whitman, the chief executive of MinuteClinic.
The clinics are popular because they are fast -- and relatively cheap. At MinuteClinic, a visit to test for strep throat costs $44, versus an average of $109 at a doctor's office or $328 in an emergency room, according to the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, a trade group.
Steve Pontius, a founder of MinuteClinic, said he and his two partners came up with the idea for it in 1999 while talking about the trouble of taking children to a doctor for simple ailments. Once, Mr. Pontius said, he was sure that his son, then 5, had an ear infection. "When it's your fourth child, you just know," he said. After they waited three hours at an urgent-care clinic, a doctor examined him. In three minutes, he gave the expected diagnosis.
"We thought if we could find a way to deliver the service quickly and conveniently, that people would be willing to pay for that," Mr. Pontius said.
More than 142,000 patient visits later, it looks as if they were right. In August, MinuteClinic will open three new clinics at Targets in Minnesota. And with plans to open in other states, MinuteClinic or one of its rivals may soon be in a supermarket or discount store near you.
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