Number of Retail Primary Care Clinics to Double By 2015

The number of retail health clinics will double in the next 3 years, according to healthcare consulting firm Accenture, increasing 25% to 30% annually from 1400 in 2012 to 2800 in 2015. 

Retail clinics, owned predominantly by pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens or retail chains like Target and Wal-Mart, have existed since the early 2000s, offering greater accessibility to care at lower costs than doctors’ offices and hospitals. 

Recently, Walgreens was the first retail clinic to begin offering treatment for chronic conditions, a trend that is sure to continue as retail chains strive to answer the call for available care in the face of expanding insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act and a growing shortage of primary care providers. 

The chain also placed physicians to oversee many of the clinics in response to concerns from groups like the American Health Association that these clinics were not capable of providing the same level of treatment as traditional healthcare providers.

These physicians would both supervise the physician assistants and nurses responsible for providing treatment as well as facilitate cooperation between the clinics and nearby hospitals and doctor’s offices in cases where the clinic was underequipped to provide treatment. 

With these changes, Accenture’s reported, came better relationships between hospitals and primary care physicians and the clinics they once perceived as rivals.

“As the shortage of PCPs relative to demand continues to grow, one option for physicians will be to refer lower acuity cases to retail clinics. In addition to providing additional supply, the clinics would also leave PCPs free to deal with more complex cases, with correspondingly higher reimbursement.”

Growth of this magnitude in the number of retail clinics “will significantly help to address capacity constraints at hospitals and PCPs by fulfilling 10.8 million visits per year [and] will save approximately $800 million per year in overall healthcare expenditures, according to Accenture analysis,” the report concluded.

–Michael Potts

Reference

Retail medical clinics: From Foe to Friend? Accenture. http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Retail-Medical-Clinics-From-Foe-to-Friend.pdf. Published June 13, 2013.  Accessed June 13, 2013.