These clinics at Walmart and drugstores have a lot of potential to take off.
The "personal attention" patients once had from their physicians just isn't there anymore. It really takes the edge off the relationship when you call for an appointment and can't get one for a month.
At the same time, there is a move toward a tiered physician service for those who are willing to pay more to get a premium service. For example, there are practices in some places today where, if you pay a premium, for example, $1,000/year, you can moved to priority scheduling, the ability to speak with your doc on the phone, etc. As this spreads, and it is likely to, the Walmart-brand health care is likely to become more prevalent.
I suspect that the Walmart services will provide, if nothing else, a great deal of consistency in patient treatment. They're going to have top-flight EMR systems, standards the physicians must adhere to, but with the time pressures of an assembly line.
I think it presents a fine alternative for a lot of people. I have some "Minor Medical" clinics I do work for -- a doc in one of these places can see 85-90 patients a day, 7 days/week -- that's a production line if ever there was one. All walk-ins. They're lined up at the door when the office opens at 7am and they're busy until closing time at 9pm.
Even so, you probably get better physician care at one of these places than you can find anywhere else in the world. |
