Retail Clinics Update

Seems those retail clinics are in the spotlight again - under the watchful and suspicious eyes of doctors participating in the American Medical Association annual meeting. It appears that the promise of "seven-day a week, no-appointment necessary" care is a health hazard to society.

Now, despite the hysteria, there is no evidence that I can find to suggest that the combination of physician-supervised midlevel providers and protocols and a limited roster of medical conditions for which diagnosis and treatment is offered is dangerous to patients' health.

Come on docs - what are you afraid of?  What are you so mad about? Surely you don't need to prove your supremacy and usefulness to humankind by stamping out a movement offering convenient affordable care in a society of rising uninsureds!

Isn't it better to rise to the challenge and configure your practice services to respond to the needs of all these potential patients who, out of necessity, are seeking the sanctuary of a walk-in clinic?

***********************************************

Preventive Medicine movement in the news.

Not being a weekday New York Times subscriber, I missed the full page ad taken out by US Preventive Medicine, a new, private business that plans to "work in partnership with leading health systems and physician groups around the country to form The U.S. Prevention Network™, the first national healthcare network focused exclusively on prevention. The network encompasses Centers for Preventive Medicine®, where consumers can access a comprehensive suite of clinically appropriate diagnostic tests and sophisticated imaging studies. The network will also include The Prevention Plan®, a full-service prevention program offered through employers." (from their website).

What might this mean for an entrepreneurial physician?

Again, from the website:

The Center for Preventive Medicine^® helps primary care physicians expand and enhance the care they deliver to their patients by giving them comprehensive risk assessment and health status information and recommendations obtained during a client's prevention visit. The information is organized into a take-away binder and stored electronically on a USB flash drive, called MyMedDrive™. Clients are given the opportunity to have their test results and recommendations reviewed by their personal physician.

Since at The Entrepreneurial MD, I am all about finding opportunities to grow and upgrade your practice, the following also caught my eye:

"Primary care physicians who practice in a community served by a local franchise of The Center for Preventive Medicine^® have many opportunities to develop new clients and new sources of revenue by tapping into the growing interest in the potential health benefits of preventive services.....
 

.....The Center for Preventive Medicine compensates primary care physicians at attractive rates for reviewing test results and recommendations generated from a client's prevention program. Most prevention programs offered by the Center give clients vouchers that pay their personal physicians to provide follow-up consultation and to integrate the Center's diagnoses, risk assessments, and prevention/intervention strategies with the client's ongoing care plan."