Medical Marts clinics lose funding, are forced to close

LAS VEGAS Medical Marts, an operator of physician-staffed clinics located in select Meijer, Sears/Kmart and ShopKo stores, has closed its doors.

Ken Richmond, who had served as vice president and chief medical officer of Medical Marts, told Drug Store News that the venture capitalists backing the operation changed their mind for reasons that are unclear and decided to move in another direction.

When it closed, the company had operated 13 clinics in Utah, Illinois and Virginia. The physician-staffed clinics were within retailers ShopKo, Meijer and Sears/Kmart. It staffed about 75 employees, of which more than 20 were physicians.

Medical Mart, which opened its first clinic in Salt Lake City in November 2006, had planned to open up to 100 more clinics in 2008.

Dismayed over the company’s decision to close, Richmond said he believes the concept “is a winner” that addresses many of the problems in mainstream healthcare, especially access to healthcare.

“This is the first way in which physicians were truly community based,” said Richmond. “Rather than physicians saying to the public you come to us, we came to the public and made ourselves available at their convenience.”