The success of retail clinics relies on collaboration with local physicians, according to a recent case study.
“Retail clinics are growing out of the fact that there aren’t enough primary care physicians and that the market is finding ways to solve that,” said Joseph Habig, MD, of the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa. “From the physician standpoint, you need to find out what your physicians concerns are and deliver on solving them.”
Habig said physicians who trust the retail clinic model will be more supportive.
The Lehigh Valley Health Network, a 1,100-physician system that serves eastern Pennsylvania, shares territory with the Geisinger Health Network and pertnerd with the system to open five Careworks clinics.
The retail clinic market has grown quickly since 2006, when the first Careworks clinic was opened, according to Careworks CEO Dean Lin.
While some see retail clinics as an innovative, growing segment in healthcare, Habig said some physicians wonder if they’re a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Critics have said such clinics fragment and sometimes negatively affect the delivery of care, hinder access to health records with pertinent patient information and do damage to the patient-centered medical home model.
“These are the issues that have been present from the inception of the retail clinic, but they are solvable,” said Lin.
According to a case study of the Lehigh Valley-Geisinger territory, pediatricians showed the most concern for their patients and offered the most resistance to retail clinics. Local competition, the size of the practice and the age of a practice are also common factors of physician resistance.
Older practices are more receptive to retail clinics, the case study found, with physicians looking forward to help with overflow and after-hours care. Younger physicians in start-up offices are more worried about competition and fear losing business. Medical liability and quality concerns are also on the table.
As a way of getting physicians on the bandwagon in the Lehigh and Geisinger area, a community physician liaison was selected to troubleshoot, oversee quality, facilitate collaboration and promote the clinics.
The liaison’s role was to serve as an interface between the physician community and the larger parties. An independent and local primary care physician with good credibility in the medical community was sought to fill the position in order to best appeal to a wider range of doctors.
“It is a matter of establishing trust,” said Lin. “‘Supportive care’ became a part of the brand promise.”
According to Habig, physicians in the Geisinger and Lehigh Valley area have expressed interest in collaborating. In addition, he said, the retail clinics haven’t had a negative impact on patient visits to primary care providers, quality of care has not been a concern, and the area’s residents have been receptive.
The biggest source of growth has been referrals from family and friends of the new patients, said Lin.