Embracing the convenient care concept

Abstract

The landscape of primary care medicine is rapidly changing. The decline in interest, both in primary care fields and students choosing these career paths, has left a vacuum in the health care system that must be filled. One of the recent developments has been the birth of "convenient care centers," also known as "retail clinics." This form of health care delivery has mostly been entrepreneurial and based in retail organizations, such as drug stores. These walk-in clinics provide basic medical care for minor common medical conditions, such as sore throat, urinary tract infection, the common cold, and ear infections. Much of this care is provided not by physicians, but by nurse practitioners or physician assistants. After seeing the success of the earliest of these clinics, MinuteClinic by CVS, many other businesses joined the venture, and retail clinics popped up in Wal-Mart, Target, and many local grocery stores. Gradually, hospital systems, physician groups, and managed care companies have also entered the market, sometimes partnering with retail outlets, such as the local grocery store or Wal-Mart, and less often, starting a stand-alone facility. Only 12% of retail clinics are owned by hospital systems or physician groups, while 73% are owned by CVS, Walgreens, or Target. There is even a national nonprofit organization called the Convenient Care Association, started in 2006, and based in Philadelphia, PA. This new trend in delivering health care has been mostly, if not totally, ignored by the medical school practice plans, with the exception of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, which has developed several "express care" clinics as stand-alone facilities. As a medical school practice plan and a division of general internal medicine, we could continue to keep a blind eye toward this new trend in primary care medicine or embrace the concept. We aim to develop a new convenient care model integrating our College of Medicine practice plan in partnership with our College of Nursing graduate nursing program to form a stand-alone clinic within a bustling business district in downtown Philadelphia.