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Convenient Care Clinics Expand Their Presence
JNP
Special Recruitment Section
Convenient Care Clinics Expand Their Presence Convenient care clinics (CCCs) are meeting health needs at hours, prices, and locations suited to patients who do not want to wait in overcrowded physician offices or emergency rooms or cannot afford them. According to the Convenient Care Association, these clinics have seen more than 3.5 million patients for common ailments, physicals, health screenings, vaccinations, and preventive care.
One exciting trend is the increased number of insurance companies that are willing to pay for retail services. The Deloitte report found that “cost savings, proof of adherence to evidence-based practices, and satisfied enrollee experiences have led to health plans’ expanded integration of retail clinics. …MinuteClinic reported that third parties paid for 80% of its fourthquarter 2008 visits, up from 70% in the third quarter, and Harris Interactive found 62% of clinic users had their visit covered at least partially by their health insurance, up from 42% in 2007.” Much has been said about territorial issues between NPs and physicians or retail settings and hospitals over retail healthcare staffing, but Donna Hoagland, chief nursing officer for MinuteClinic, offers a different perspective: “The scope of practice issues are not about the scope of NP education or abilities (as they are ver y broad) but more about support for the patient that will translate seamless care from a retail health center to primar y care and other healthcare resources as needed. So, the larger concern is the ability for healthcare systems to work together to best meet patient needs.”
What might healthcare reform mean for retail clinics? Hoagland said, “Retail clinics are positioned to help meet the inevitable lack of primary care that our country is already seeing. This need for access will only increase as fewer physicians go into primary care at the same time the baby boomer generation enters its senior years with the subsequent increased utilization of healthcare resources. In order to keep this population healthy, we will need more and more access points for disease prevention, early detection, and close monitoring to avoid and limit the high costs of poorly managed chronic diseases.” In closing, here’s perhaps the most promising finding in the Deloitte report: “Retail clinic operators will need to increase employment of NPs and physician assistants (PAs) from approximately 3,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) by the end of 2009 (average 2.5 FTEs per clinic) to 6,500 FTEs over the next 4 years. Currently, an estimated 6,000 NPs enter the workforce per year, as well as an additional 4,600 PAs. Retail clinics, on average, would look to employ approximately 10% of the new graduates each year. However, using historic rates of NPs and PAs employed in primary care, retail clinics’ capture rate would need to increase to approximately 15%. Current unemployment in both professions is low, and, in fact, employment opportunities for the nursing and PA professions are expected to grow much faster than average. This suggests that short-term demand for these practitioners will be high, even in the face of the current economic downturn.” *The complete Deloitte report can be found at www.deloitte.com/us/retailclinics.
Classifieds
The number of CCCs has increased about 15% during the past 2 years, according to a report released last November by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.* “Retail Clinics: Update and Implications” reported that, as of July 2009, 1,107 retail clinics were in operation nationwide; most clinics operated in retail pharmacy settings (82%) or as departments or wholly owned subsidiaries of host organizations, such as grocery stores (12%) or big box discount stores (6%). The number of operators has increased nearly 40% since July 2008, while the number of clinics has increased just 15%. “Two operators, MinuteClinic and Take Care, dominate the market, with 72% market share between them. An additional 17% of the market resides with four remaining operators/hosts: The Little Clinic, Walmart, Target Clinics, and RediClinic.”
She continued, “While retail healthcare started as primarily treatment for minor acute illnesses, the movement is to help meet the needs of the chronically ill as well, often in conjunction with the patient’s primary care provider. There are many people who do not have preventive health care, early disease detection, or chronic disease monitoring.” Part of the Deloitte paper underscores this point about the CCC industry turning to disease management, reporting that “Take Care is piloting chronic disease management as well as injection and infusion ser vices; several multi-unit operators, including MinuteClinic, now provide obesity screenings, smoking cessation, and injectables training; and RediClinic offers injection ser vices.”
Special Recruitment Section
Convenient Care Clinics Expand Their Presence Convenient care clinics (CCCs) are meeting health needs at hours, prices, and locations suited to patients who do not want to wait in overcrowded physician offices or emergency rooms or cannot afford them. According to the Convenient Care Association, these clinics have seen more than 3.5 million patients for common ailments, physicals, health screenings, vaccinations, and preventive care.
One exciting trend is the increased number of insurance companies that are willing to pay for retail services. The Deloitte report found that “cost savings, proof of adherence to evidence-based practices, and satisfied enrollee experiences have led to health plans’ expanded integration of retail clinics. …MinuteClinic reported that third parties paid for 80% of its fourthquarter 2008 visits, up from 70% in the third quarter, and Harris Interactive found 62% of clinic users had their visit covered at least partially by their health insurance, up from 42% in 2007.” Much has been said about territorial issues between NPs and physicians or retail settings and hospitals over retail healthcare staffing, but Donna Hoagland, chief nursing officer for MinuteClinic, offers a different perspective: “The scope of practice issues are not about the scope of NP education or abilities (as they are ver y broad) but more about support for the patient that will translate seamless care from a retail health center to primar y care and other healthcare resources as needed. So, the larger concern is the ability for healthcare systems to work together to best meet patient needs.”
What might healthcare reform mean for retail clinics? Hoagland said, “Retail clinics are positioned to help meet the inevitable lack of primary care that our country is already seeing. This need for access will only increase as fewer physicians go into primary care at the same time the baby boomer generation enters its senior years with the subsequent increased utilization of healthcare resources. In order to keep this population healthy, we will need more and more access points for disease prevention, early detection, and close monitoring to avoid and limit the high costs of poorly managed chronic diseases.” In closing, here’s perhaps the most promising finding in the Deloitte report: “Retail clinic operators will need to increase employment of NPs and physician assistants (PAs) from approximately 3,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) by the end of 2009 (average 2.5 FTEs per clinic) to 6,500 FTEs over the next 4 years. Currently, an estimated 6,000 NPs enter the workforce per year, as well as an additional 4,600 PAs. Retail clinics, on average, would look to employ approximately 10% of the new graduates each year. However, using historic rates of NPs and PAs employed in primary care, retail clinics’ capture rate would need to increase to approximately 15%. Current unemployment in both professions is low, and, in fact, employment opportunities for the nursing and PA professions are expected to grow much faster than average. This suggests that short-term demand for these practitioners will be high, even in the face of the current economic downturn.” *The complete Deloitte report can be found at www.deloitte.com/us/retailclinics.
Classifieds
The number of CCCs has increased about 15% during the past 2 years, according to a report released last November by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.* “Retail Clinics: Update and Implications” reported that, as of July 2009, 1,107 retail clinics were in operation nationwide; most clinics operated in retail pharmacy settings (82%) or as departments or wholly owned subsidiaries of host organizations, such as grocery stores (12%) or big box discount stores (6%). The number of operators has increased nearly 40% since July 2008, while the number of clinics has increased just 15%. “Two operators, MinuteClinic and Take Care, dominate the market, with 72% market share between them. An additional 17% of the market resides with four remaining operators/hosts: The Little Clinic, Walmart, Target Clinics, and RediClinic.”
She continued, “While retail healthcare started as primarily treatment for minor acute illnesses, the movement is to help meet the needs of the chronically ill as well, often in conjunction with the patient’s primary care provider. There are many people who do not have preventive health care, early disease detection, or chronic disease monitoring.” Part of the Deloitte paper underscores this point about the CCC industry turning to disease management, reporting that “Take Care is piloting chronic disease management as well as injection and infusion ser vices; several multi-unit operators, including MinuteClinic, now provide obesity screenings, smoking cessation, and injectables training; and RediClinic offers injection ser vices.”