I'll have a loaf of bread, milk, and a flu shot
Discount stores add health clinics
By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff | December 11, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The company that radically reshaped the retail industry is getting into the healthcare business.
Wal-Mart is experimenting with ways to provide outpatient medical services to its millions of customers by opening walk-in clinics in about a dozen stores. The move by the $285 billion corporation is part of a broader trend that could significantly change the way many Americans get basic healthcare.
Target has opened 12 clinics in Minnesota and Maryland stores, staffing them with nurse practitioners who treat sore throats, earaches, and other minor ailments. The CVS pharmacy chain is aggressively rolling out similar clinics, with about 35 so far in cities like Atlanta, Nashville, and Seattle. Rite Aid, a national drugstore chain, and Duane Reade, a New York pharmacy chain, are setting up pilot programs for similar clinics. And MinuteClinic, a Minneapolis healthcare firm that leases space from Target and CVS, plans to expand to another 100 to 200 retail stores next year.
Janine Charles is already a believer in big-box healthcare. She thought she had the wrong address when her search for a doctor led to the parking lot of a Super Wal-Mart in Orlando recently. Charles, who had a sore neck, had called her insurance company to locate a walk-in clinic. After hunting around, she finally discovered the clinic was inside Wal-Mart, in a tiny space that was formerly a video arcade.
''I was really skeptical," Charles said. ''I mean, Wal-Mart?"
Her visit turned out to be convenient, fast, and reasonably priced -- $90 for an exam and an injection of muscle-relaxant medicine. The same treatment costs up to $200 at a doctor's office and more than $500 at a hospital emergency room. Like those places, the Wal-Mart clinic accepts most major health insurance plans.
But beside ease of access and price, there was another advantage for Charles: while she was waiting for her prescription to be filled at the store's pharmacy, she was able to do her grocery shopping.
''It's all about convenience," said Dr. Grant Tarbox, medical director of Solantic, a for-profit Florida healthcare chain that leases the former video arcade space from Wal-Mart and operates the clinic. It is staffed by two doctors and offers services that range from a test for strep throat to X-rays for an injured ankle. Patients with more serious conditions are referred to primary care physicians or emergency rooms...
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