i prefer In-N-Out
Health care
McClinics
Apr 12th 2007
The Economist
“Convenient care” clinics are taking off
“In no other industry is the relationship between the consumer and the provider as unbalanced as in health care,” says Joseph Maloney of Health Stop, a pioneering retail health-care chain. In a recent case study on his firm prepared by Regina Herzlinger of Harvard Business School, Dr Maloney observed that the typical patient frequently waits a week for an appointment, then an hour longer at the doctor's office or, worse yet, is forced to go to an emergency treatment centre. As Dr Maloney summarised, “Any dry-cleaner that operated this way would be put out of business.”
That, at least, is the argument being peddled by a plethora of new businesses offering “convenient care”. Services that were once available only during business hours at doctors' offices can now be obtained on weekends at clinics in shopping malls and inside pharmacies. Europe already has a few walk-in clinics at transport hubs and the first in an American airport opened last month in Newark, New Jersey.
It is but a hint of the boom to come. RediClinic, a Houston-based firm (funded in part by Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL), already has a few dozen clinics at Wal-Mart and other retailers, and is rapidly expanding. Web Gorlinkin, the firm's chief executive, expects its 50 or so clinics today to increase to 500 by 2009, with many of those inside Wal-Mart branches.
CVS, America's second-biggest pharmacy chain, recently bought the MinuteClinic chain and now plans to double the number of clinics in its stores to perhaps 300 this year. In the long term, the firm expects the number of clinics to surpass 2,500 as it introduces the concept in almost all its shops.
Convenience is one reason this niche is taking off. “You're sick, we're quick” is the motto of MinuteClinic, which promises to take care of minor medical problems in about 15 minutes. Patients arriving at RediClinic branches are given a pager, so that they can shop nearby until the clinic can see them. If patients are given prescriptions for drugs, they usually need to walk only a few feet to pharmacy counters at the likes of Wal-Mart and CVS to pick up their medicine.
But retail clinics also attract patients thanks to their prices. They typically charge $50 or $60 for a visit, half or less of what it would cost to consult a doctor and a quarter of the cost of a visit to an emergency centre. In recent months American insurance companies and even Medicare (the government health-insurance scheme for the elderly) have decided to extend their coverage to retail clinics.
Some of these clinics, like those run by Health Stop, are staffed by doctors. A similar, state-run centre operates at the Poole branch of Boots, a British drugstore chain. The British government declared in March that it wants more retailers to include such clinics. However, the most innovative and fastest-growing chains (including MinuteClinic and RediClinic) use not doctors but “nurse-practitioners”. Relatively inexpensive, such nurses can diagnose the most common minor ailments (such as flu) and, crucially, also write prescriptions. Graver conditions are referred to a doctor.
Does that mean retail health-clinics could become as popular and ubiquitous as McDonald's? Put that notion to MinuteClinic's Mr Howe, who as it happens used to be the chief executive of Arby's (another American fast-food chain), and he rejects the analogy. “This is not the same as selling French fries,” he insists, observing that quality control is paramount since people's lives are involved.
That is true. Many patients want the personal care of a practitioner whom they know and trust: instant medicine is not for them. But McDonald's showed how consistent standards across a huge network of branches can win loyalty. Dr Maloney also disliked the comparison with fast food, but admitted that it may have some merit. As he put it in the Harvard study: “Consistency is important in health care too.”
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_JDTPVVQ
McClinics
Apr 12th 2007
The Economist
“Convenient care” clinics are taking off
“In no other industry is the relationship between the consumer and the provider as unbalanced as in health care,” says Joseph Maloney of Health Stop, a pioneering retail health-care chain. In a recent case study on his firm prepared by Regina Herzlinger of Harvard Business School, Dr Maloney observed that the typical patient frequently waits a week for an appointment, then an hour longer at the doctor's office or, worse yet, is forced to go to an emergency treatment centre. As Dr Maloney summarised, “Any dry-cleaner that operated this way would be put out of business.”
That, at least, is the argument being peddled by a plethora of new businesses offering “convenient care”. Services that were once available only during business hours at doctors' offices can now be obtained on weekends at clinics in shopping malls and inside pharmacies. Europe already has a few walk-in clinics at transport hubs and the first in an American airport opened last month in Newark, New Jersey.
It is but a hint of the boom to come. RediClinic, a Houston-based firm (funded in part by Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL), already has a few dozen clinics at Wal-Mart and other retailers, and is rapidly expanding. Web Gorlinkin, the firm's chief executive, expects its 50 or so clinics today to increase to 500 by 2009, with many of those inside Wal-Mart branches.
CVS, America's second-biggest pharmacy chain, recently bought the MinuteClinic chain and now plans to double the number of clinics in its stores to perhaps 300 this year. In the long term, the firm expects the number of clinics to surpass 2,500 as it introduces the concept in almost all its shops.
Convenience is one reason this niche is taking off. “You're sick, we're quick” is the motto of MinuteClinic, which promises to take care of minor medical problems in about 15 minutes. Patients arriving at RediClinic branches are given a pager, so that they can shop nearby until the clinic can see them. If patients are given prescriptions for drugs, they usually need to walk only a few feet to pharmacy counters at the likes of Wal-Mart and CVS to pick up their medicine.
But retail clinics also attract patients thanks to their prices. They typically charge $50 or $60 for a visit, half or less of what it would cost to consult a doctor and a quarter of the cost of a visit to an emergency centre. In recent months American insurance companies and even Medicare (the government health-insurance scheme for the elderly) have decided to extend their coverage to retail clinics.
Some of these clinics, like those run by Health Stop, are staffed by doctors. A similar, state-run centre operates at the Poole branch of Boots, a British drugstore chain. The British government declared in March that it wants more retailers to include such clinics. However, the most innovative and fastest-growing chains (including MinuteClinic and RediClinic) use not doctors but “nurse-practitioners”. Relatively inexpensive, such nurses can diagnose the most common minor ailments (such as flu) and, crucially, also write prescriptions. Graver conditions are referred to a doctor.
Does that mean retail health-clinics could become as popular and ubiquitous as McDonald's? Put that notion to MinuteClinic's Mr Howe, who as it happens used to be the chief executive of Arby's (another American fast-food chain), and he rejects the analogy. “This is not the same as selling French fries,” he insists, observing that quality control is paramount since people's lives are involved.
That is true. Many patients want the personal care of a practitioner whom they know and trust: instant medicine is not for them. But McDonald's showed how consistent standards across a huge network of branches can win loyalty. Dr Maloney also disliked the comparison with fast food, but admitted that it may have some merit. As he put it in the Harvard study: “Consistency is important in health care too.”
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_JDTPVVQ