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Bethesda, MD -- Since they began appearing in
2000, retail clinics have become a regular fixture in many American
pharmacies, supermarkets, and shopping malls. Although some professional
medical organizations have spoken out against them, consumers have
appreciated the convenience they offer. A
new study, released today as a Web First by Health Affairs,
shows that the number of patient visits grew from 1.48 million in
2006 to 5.97 million in 2009. This is a follow-up to
an earlier Health Affairs study about retail clinics
by the same authors.
Visits To Retail Clinics Grew Fourfold From 2007 To 2009,
Although Their Share Of Overall Outpatient Visits Remains
Low
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2012/08/14/hlthaff.2011.1128
By Ateev Mehrotra and Judith R. Lave
Mehrotra is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation as well
as on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine. Lave is a professor of economics in the University
of Pittsburgh’s Department of Health Policy and Management.
This study, which will also appear in the journal’s
September issue, was supported by the California HealthCare
Foundation.
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The following information was obtained from deidentified clinic
data for 2007–09 from MinuteClinic, Take Care, and Little Clinic,
the three largest US retail clinic operators, representing 81 percent
of the industry. Some of the key findings include:
- Nearly two thirds of retail clinic customers (64.5) do not have
a primary care physician; that number increased slightly when
compared to the 2000–06 data (61.3 percent). The vast majority
of clients (70.5 percent) have insurance (commercial, Medicare,
or Medicaid), an increase over 2000–06 (67.1 percent).
- There was great seasonal variation in the number of visits,
with peaks in October and November, primarily because of visits
for flu vaccines.
- A total of 44.4 percent of retail clinic visits occurred when
physicians’ offices were likely to be closed, such as weekday
evenings or weekends.
- Comparing the current data with information the authors gathered
in their earlier study, the authors found that the proportion
of visits made by children under 18 decreased from 26.8 percent
during 2000–06 to 22.2 percent during 2007–09. The number
of visits by those 65 and older nearly doubled, going from 7.5
percent during 2000–06 to 14.7 percent during 2007–09.
- The reasons for visits to retail clinics changed in the intervening
years. During 2000–06, 21.8 percent of visits were for preventive
care; that more than doubled during 2007–09, to 47.5 percent.
Then percentage of visits for vaccines alone also more than doubled
from 19.7 percent in the earlier period to 40.8 percent in the
more recent years.
“The clinics continue to provide mostly simple acute and preventive
care, and they continue to serve a population of patients who do
not report having a primary care physician,” concluded the
authors. “It will be interesting to track demand at retail
clinics after the Affordable Care Act is implemented…if wait
times for appointments with primary care physicians increase nationwide,
demand for the clinics might increase.” |
Health Affairs is the leading journal at the intersection
of health, health care, and policy. Published by Project HOPE, the
peer-reviewed journal appears each month in print, with additional
Web First papers published periodically and health
policy briefs published twice monthly at www.healthaffairs.org.
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The full text of each Health Affairs Web First paper is
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period following posting, after which it switches to pay-per-view
for nonsubscribers. Web First papers are supported in part by a
grant from The Commonwealth Fund.
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