Will Nuclear Medicine be Next on Your Grocery List?

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal, along with other news outlets, published an article about the first retail medical clinic opening in one of Britain's largest supermarket chains. The article notes that patients would have to be registered with the supermarket clinic to get their care covered by the National Health System.

Of course, we already have clinics that are open in some of our retail outlets here in the U.S. The idea is to make it more convenient for patients who need immediate but not urgent emergency room care when their physician's office is closed. For instance, someone might go to these clinics rather than the ER to determine if an ankle injury is just a severe strain or a break that needs emergency care. This may help ease the load on emergency rooms, especially for patients without a primary care doctor who sometimes clog waiting rooms with the flu and aches. It might also cut the cost of care, since a flu shot or an ankle wrap at this type of facility is less expensive than a couple of hours in an ER bed.

For anyone who has had an experience sitting for hours in a waiting room at the doctor office, the ability to get your shopping done while you wait may be more attactive than reading old issues of magazines.

With national attention focusing on healthcare availability and costs, maybe having medical care available right where the patients are is a good idea. If this trend continues, however, how far will it go? Will there be mammography and gamma/specific breast imaging exams available in the mall? Could you get a cardiac scan on one of the small cardiac-specific gamma cameras and then go shopping for low-cholesterol foods? Will imaging technologists eventually find themselves listening to the blue light specials?