| Basic healthcare may have just gotten easier, albeit | | | | standards of care, including hygiene and safety. |
| controversially. The number of walk-in clinics at | | | | "We've got big problems in healthcare, and this is not |
| drugstores like Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, and Duane | | | | the answer," said Rick Kellerman, president of the |
| Reade has been increasing over the last two years, | | | | American Academy of Family Physicians. |
| and very little is slowing down plans to add hundreds | | | | Many state officials agree, at least to a certain |
| more across the country. Recent studies cite shorter | | | | extent. The walk-in clinics are currently being |
| waiting periods, lower costs, and instant prescription | | | | monitored by a confusing mix of agencies applying a |
| fills for the clinics, in contrast to more expensive and | | | | wide and inconsistent range of regulations and |
| time-consuming trips to doctors' offices. The majority | | | | enforcement principles. After Massachusetts doctors' |
| of these clinics also accept most health insurance | | | | groups issued loud protests to the proposed opening |
| plans, leaving little incentive for on-the-go Americans | | | | of a MinuteClinic, the Health Department issued |
| to wait days or weeks for non-specialized | | | | guidelines for the state, calling for the facilities to |
| appointments in conventional offices. | | | | clearly specify that they are "limited service clinics." |
| The rise in healthcare costs, the decrease in the | | | | The American Medical Association is pushing for |
| number able to afford private health insurance, and | | | | similar national requirements on the drugstore |
| the inadequate number of primary care physicians | | | | facilities, urging local and federal governments to |
| across the country have all been building up to this -- | | | | require them to be "well-defined and limited [in] |
| perhaps inevitable -- solution. One can now walk in to | | | | scope." Two public hearings on the issue are |
| any number of seven hundred clinics located in | | | | scheduled in Massachusetts in September. |
| several nationwide drug and discount store chains and | | | | Conflicts of interest between the clinics and the |
| be seen, on average, in under twenty-five minutes. | | | | drugstores cannot be ignored, either. New York state |
| While the clinics are not recommended for anything | | | | regulators are investigating possible inappropriate |
| but basic care -- such as treating a cold, flu, or mild | | | | relationships between drug companies and medical |
| infection -- that's just fine for many, especially those | | | | providers. The risk, they say, is of healthcare facilities |
| going back to school, who are often bombarded by | | | | being used improperly to increase business or to |
| common, acute illnesses in those first, returning | | | | funnel patients into their adjacent pharmacies. In |
| months. | | | | certain states, like New York, it is also necessary for |
| Texas, a state in which twenty-five percent of the | | | | clinics to operate as independent practices or |
| populace is without health insurance, may particularly | | | | professional corporations; i.e., they must not be a |
| stand to benefit from increased healthcare options. A | | | | part of the drugstore chains themselves. |
| visit to a MinuteClinic, a wholly owned subsidiary of | | | | "If we determine the business corporations [like CVS] |
| CVS Caremark, costs an average of eighteen dollars | | | | are practicing medicine, then they are illegally |
| less than other primary-care clinics, according to | | | | practicing the profession and we have the authority |
| HealthPartners, a Minnesota health maintenance | | | | to investigate," said Frank Munoz, associate |
| organization. Emergency rooms across Dallas, | | | | commissioner of the New York State Education |
| Houston, Austin, and the rest of the state are | | | | Department's Office of Professions. |
| overloaded with the uninsured seeking basic, | | | | Duane Reade, a pharmacy chain located primarily on |
| non-emergency care simply because they have | | | | the East coast, is attempting to limit possible |
| nowhere else to go. Offering easier, cheaper access | | | | complications by partnering up with well-known |
| to basic diagnostic care and treatments may alleviate | | | | hospitals, such as New York City's Beth Israel Medical |
| some of the burden on both individuals and local | | | | Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. |
| facilities overwhelmed by too many people and not | | | | Duane Reade clinics will be staffed by medical |
| enough funding. | | | | doctors, versus nurse practitioners or physician |
| Twenty percent of people in the United States have | | | | assistants, and have admitting privileges to partnering |
| no or inadequate access to a primary care physician, | | | | facilities. Such agreements will give the doctors the |
| with few indications that statistic will improve in the | | | | ability to send those in need of emergency care |
| near future. In 2004, seventy-five percent of the | | | | straight to the hospital, and streamline patients' |
| counties in Texas lacked sufficient numbers of | | | | procedures to see specialists. Additionally, the clinics |
| primary care physicians to meet local needs, and | | | | will function as private medical practices, run by the |
| twenty-four counties had none at all. Drugstore clinics | | | | physicians themselves, who will lease the space from |
| often employ more cost-effective nurse practitioners | | | | the corporation. |
| and physician assistants -- healthcare workers with | | | | Michael C. Howe, chief executive of MinuteClinic, |
| the ability to diagnose and treat everyday conditions, | | | | which runs over two hundred clinics nationwide, |
| but who are under the supervision of a licensed | | | | defends CVS's practices as they are, however. "We |
| medical doctor. These workers are growing more and | | | | are transparent with regulators," he said, and |
| more popular within the industry, partially as a result | | | | concerns "are being raised by people who have not |
| of the shortage of family practitioners. | | | | really studied the model." |
| But doctors' groups are protesting, and some with | | | | Being aware of current events and issues affecting |
| good cause. Many of these groups stand to lose | | | | your health is an important part of taking care of |
| substantial business, and are arguing that such | | | | yourself. Minding your health will certainly affect you |
| facilities may be unable to provide the proper | | | | as you age, and eventually your wallet. |