New Services in Retail Healthcare
Will the scope of services expand in retail health?
Yes, for many reasons.
First, we all know that as nurse practitioners, our knowledge and skills are not being utilized to even a fraction of our capabilities in this setting. It has been established that nurse practitioners have the ability to provide high levels of care in many settings. Numerous studies have confirmed this. Satisfaction surveys and studies show that patients enjoy seeing nurse practitioners in many arenas of healthcare.
Second, the patients enjoy utilizing this model of care for the convenience it offers. Patients have the advantage of being able to walk into these clinics at their convenience without missing work, etc. If it seems too busy to the patient at the time they present to the clinic, why they can shop or come back later to be seen and evaluated since the hours are very flexible. For this reason, patients value this model of healthcare and express interest in other services that may be offered.
Third, our increasingly unstable economy in which many patients are having to take on all or most of their healthcare costs will drive the ability for retail health to expand its scope of services. From what I read these days, about a quarter of Americans are not insured. The patients really appreciate knowing how much the visit will cost them up front. I have noticed that even when a patient is insured, most of the time they take an interest in how much their insurance is being billed so they can understand the actual cost. Patients in these settings reap the benefits of one on one attention and receive their evaluation and treatment as well as education regarding their condition from a highly trained healthcare professional. As patients become more educated regarding healthcare, they recognize the value of this more and more.
Fourth, retail health will have to expand the services in order to continue to thrive as a business. Historically, as businesses start out they seem to become successful as they begin with a menu of services that is small and clear cut and then expand. It makes sense that if patients enjoy the convenience of episodic care in this setting, they will really appreciate the convenience of chronic and well care. We must expand our services to maintain a steady number of patients that is not dependent upon seasons.
It will be interesting to watch this evolution of retail health and I think we are up for it.