What Is Retail Clinics 2.0?
This week I attended a forum in Philadelphia held by the Convenient Care Association (CCA). It was designed to address where convenient care is positioned now and where it's headed. In terms of presenters and panel participants, the cast was star-studded: Sandy Ryan, chief nurse practitioner officer for Take Care Health Systems, Web Golinkin, CEO of RediClinic, Tine Hansen-Turton, executive director of the CCA and Chip Phillips, former CEO of MinuteClinic, to name a few. There were about 160 attendees, and discussion was lively.
There was talk about the growth of the industry, not in numbers of clinics but in types of services. This brought up the question: Can we call this industry "retail healthcare" anymore? It seems that the moniker doesn't quite fit anymore, now that there are so many clinics in locations other than retail settings, such as primary care settings, hospitals and workplaces. There was what panelists called "Retail Clinics 1.0," meaning the first wave of clinics, and "Retail Clinics 2.0," the second wave of change that we're seeing happen now, with expanded services (weight management, asthma care, acne treatment, even diabetes management). The glue that binds all of these practices together is their focus on what the consumer wants - convenient, affordable healthcare. Patients are in the driver seat in this new healthcare vehicle.
The industry is thriving in a completely different way now, and consumers are going to continue to adopt the concept - who wouldn't want quality, convenient affordable healthcare? Also, as Chip Phillips noted, this flu season will put convenient care clinics on the map. And clinics are going to be hiring more and more NPs and will potentially be offering all sorts of incentives to do so. Will you be part of Retail Clinics 2.0?