NASHVILLE, TN – The Kroger Company has made its entrance into the convenient care clinic industry with its partnership with The Little Clinic, LLC.
Kroger joins the list of big retailers, such as Wal-Mart, CVS and Walgreens, that promise to offer more affordable healthcare for both the underinsured and uninsured.
As of November 2007, there were close to 800 convenient care clinics in the United States. This number is predicted to grow to 1,500 by the end of 2008, according to the Convenient Care Association.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., The Little Clinic operates 26 walk-in medical clinics inside the Kroger retail grocery chain.
The industry is seeing a surge in convenient care clinics, which has been referred to as the “minute clinic” movement or “emergence” movement because the clinics function as an alternative to the ER.
Some experts say this trend will continue to grow even though some states have proposed laws to regulate the growth of these clinics, saying patients should be wary of the quality of care provided.
The Federal Trade Commission released comments in May concerning the Illinois Medical Society’s proposed law to regulate the growth of retail health clinics by imposing certain restrictions on them.
The FTC says “retail healthcare facilities have the potential to expand access to healthcare by making very basic medical care convenient and less costly.” And, “Although Illinois’ initiative to provide for the emergence of this new model of healthcare delivery is to be encouraged, several of HB 5372’s provisions could harm healthcare competition, and the emergence of new clinics, without providing countervailing benefits for Illinois healthcare consumers.”
The FTC is recommending clarifications to bills aimed at preventing retail clinics from facing “competitive disadvantage to other providers of similar services.”
“If organized medicine is successful in forcing more government regulations and licensing, then it will slow the growth of these clinics,” said Paul Breslin, senior principal at the Noblis Center for Health Innovation. However he said he doesn’t think this will have the biggest impact on their success.
“The market forces are the biggest impact on the success of these clinics,” he said. “What’s intriguing to me is that we are talking about large companies, sponsoring these clinics, which could make all the difference in making these clinics economically sustainable.”
Breslin said he is “curiously watching to see if this is the better mousetrap that can figure out appropriate quality for limited but immediate care.”
Tine Hansen-Turton, executive director of the Convenient Care Association, defended the interest in such clinics.
“I think that it is going to be hard to question clinics when it comes to quality,” she said. “Quality is our number one priority.”
A 2007 article in the American Journal of Medical Quality found that in the treatment of sore throats – one of the most commonly diagnosed illnesses in the United States – clinics provide “exceptionally high-quality care.” The journal links this finding to the extensive practitioner training that is provided by the clinic combined with clinical support tools afforded by electronic medical record systems.
Opponents of the “minute clinic” movement say they provide too much competition for local physicians.