Markets in Everything: $29 Physicals By Monday
LONGMONT, CO (Denver suburb) — In-store retail health clinics, where folks can get health care in the same store where they’re buying a package of toilet paper or an eyeglass cleaning kit, are a relatively new concept in retail. This year, the trend hit Longmont in February when the Take Care Clinic opened in the Walgreens at 1041 Main St.
Last month, The Little Clinic opened in the King Soopers store at 1611 Pace St. It’s one of four that opened recently in Denver-area King Soopers, bringing the total number of metro-area clinics to eight. The Longmont location is the farthest north.
Originally posted at Carpe Diem.
8 Comments:
Dr. Perry,
This is totally off topic, but I think you'll like this one:
http://sbvor.blogspot.com/2009/08/national-debt-road-trip.html
It's right up your alley.
Dr. Perry,
FYI, I just updated that post to include what I regard as very important commentary.
While I favor a totally free market, I have to wonder about the commoditization of medicine. I remember when Home depot came in a killed off a lot of hardware stores. Where I lived there was a hardware store that was family owned and operated for 90 years and they had everything and the service was top notch. THey were killed off by Home Depot and while HD has low prices, I'd rather have the old store back. I guess it depends on your expectations. A lot of what the walmarts and home depot have now is a lot of low cost chinese crap. So what doctor will want to work in what is basically a Walmart? It won't be someone that graduated in the top half of his class...
Ah, lots of primary care practices I've worked with have been doing $25 physical days for years. Some physicians who work with specific teams do physicals for free. This is hardly new or different.
But Mark Perry is sooooo excited.
The Right Guy:
Here in Flint, there are numerous local hardware stores that have thrived after the arrival of Lowes and Home Depot.
Gill-Roy's Hardware is one along with numerous local hardware stores that are Ace Hardware franchises.
I talk to many people who patronize the locals because they are close, convenient, and offer great service.
What has closed in Flint are locally owned lumber stores that also sold hardware.
Save the Rust Belt:
But can you walk into your doctor's office, without an appointment, after 5:00pm or on the weekends, and get your physical?
Hey RustyBelt,
In addition to Bob's point on making a distinction on service, you also don't see regular medical practitioners advertising or especially advertising on price...
Price and service...those are foreign concepts to regular primary care practices.
Guess what: I like my doctor, but I will leave his *ss in a second if a Wal-mart or HD version of Healthcare services comes along. We need someone to put pressure on these guys to perform...the whole system just sits on its *ss and decides how to divvy up other people's money. A layoff or being competitive doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar in the Healthcare profession...
Bob:
NY is a different market. THis hardware had everything. You could rent anything, they did fencing, they did repairs. For some reason, people stopped going I guess.
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