Retail clinics benefit operators, their patients

As the country’s healthcare system continues to move away from a fee-for-service structure, retail-based clinics are taking on added significance for the operators of these facilities and their patients.

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For consumers, the growing number of clinics across the country promise convenience and affordability. For retailers, they mean increased traffic and the opportunity to position themselves firmly as key players in the nation’s new healthcare system.



According to the Convenient Care Association, over the past decade the number of retail clinics across the country has grown from slightly more than 100 to nearly 1,900. Estimates are that the number will top 3,000 by the end of next year.



As clinics become a viable option for more patients, operators are forming alliances with other healthcare providers to ensure that they are part of a comprehensive care team that helps drive outcomes.



Executives at the retailers who operate clinics say that forging these partnerships has become particularly critical in light of the Obama administration’s announcement earlier this year that by 2018 half of all payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to providers will be based on performance and health outcomes. In addition, they noted, a growing number of private insurers are moving in the same direction by contracting with health systems and accredited care organizations to provide a full menu of patient services, including access to pharmacies and their retail clinics.



CVS Health has approximately 50 affiliations with health systems and physicians groups across the country. Walgreens Boots Alliance, which operates more than 400 clinics under the HealthcareClinic name, has developed about 25 such affiliations.



Meanwhile, Rite Aid — which operates clinics under the RediClinic banner — has taken a slightly different approach, forming the Rite Aid Health Alliance, a comprehensive care effort that offers medication-adherence programs, medication reviews and reconciliation, nutrition and weight management services, disease education, exercise coaching, and tobacco-cessation programs. So far, Rite Aid has partnered with seven health systems and ACOs across the country.