First Retail Clinic Opens in DC 2 Miles from Capitol
FOX BUSINESS NEWS -- MinuteClinic, the pioneer and largest provider of retail-based health care in the United States, has opened its first retail health care center in Washington, D.C. inside a CVS/pharmacy store on Bladensburg Road. The clinic is open seven days a week and will serve patients in Northeast neighborhoods, including Trinidad, Carver Langston, Kingman Park, Atlas District, Ivy City and the Gallaudet University campus."Through this conveniently located store-based clinic, we are expanding access to high-quality, affordable care for common family illnesses in the Northeast neighborhoods of the District of Columbia," said Andrew Sussman, M.D., MinuteClinic president. "We are committed to making our innovative model, which includes a series of prevention and wellness services, part of the District's extensive efforts to broaden access to quality medical care for its citizens."
The MinuteClinic health care center in Northeast is open Monday - Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Examinations typically take 10-15 minutes and no appointment is necessary.
Additional MinuteClinic locations are expected to open inside CVS/pharmacy stores in the District of Columbia in 2010. There are 23 MinuteClinic health care centers inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in Northern Virginia and Maryland counties surrounding the District of Columbia.
MP: While Congress considers how to bring down health care costs and expand access to medical care through various grandiose government interventions, programs and public options (and they've got 2,000 pages worth of "health care reform" to prove it), the private marketplace is already doing it - lowering costs and expanding access at more than 1,000 retail clinics (with maybe as many as 4,000 by 2015, see chart above). And unlike government-based health care reform, the explosion of affordable, convenient retail health clinics across the country didn't require any tax increases, government spending or funding, or special legislation.
Isn't it ironic that within a week of the Senate vote to start debate on health care reform, the first retail clinic opens in Washington, D.C. less than two miles from the U.S. Capitol? Could the senators maybe take a field trip to the clinic to see what market-based health care reform looks like before they plot their takeover of the health care system?
9 Comments:
Their takeover isn't about health. It's about taxes and power.
"Their takeover isn't about health. It's about taxes and power"...
I totally agree...
Note the following from FreshNews dated 11/16/2009: Health Care Retail Clinics Continue Gradual Expansion Through 2012: Deloitte Center for Health Solutions Report
The four factors that will likely contribute to the sector's growth include:
Increased use and satisfaction by consumers
Increased use and acceptance by commercial health plans and large employers
Increased services provided through the retail medicine model
Increased demand for preventive and primary health care services as a result of health reform and consumer demand
(if its practical, cheap, and easy to use, they will come)
Speaking of retail health clinics--moire than 400 pot clinics have opened up in Los Angeles in the last couple years. They are everywhere.
You can get cheap "medicine" from these clinics. Doctors write pot prescriptions the way holy men sprinkle water.
The upshot?
None. Life goes on. The pot scare is full of beans. People go to work like they did before, if they have a job.
The only positive I see is that some stores are rented that were empty, and the only negative I see is that pot is not taxed like liquor.
Explain to me again, why do people who say they like free markets want to regulate and outlaw pot? But keep liquor legal?
Happy T-Day--drink that eggnog.
Benny,
"Explain to me again, why do people who say they like free markets want to regulate and outlaw pot?"
The reason I hear most often is that pot is a gateway drug.
The person is always convinced that beer and alcohol are not gateway drugs.
This reasoning is always anecdotal.
I am always amused with the snide comments about the value of retail health clinics.
Comments like "Well, most health care costs come from the last two years of life. These clinics do nothing to address the major costs of health care."
Apparently, because these clinics don't solve all the problems with the cost of health care, they should not solve any of the problems.
As the ancient Chinese proverb says "The longest journey begins with just one step."
Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
We have thousands of these no-appointment-needed clinics here in Mexico. The last one I went to charged less than $2. Also adults do not need prescriptions for almost any medicine.
Why is it that US citizens are treated like children and need the nanny state to take care of them?
I can't wait until a clinic opens nearby. I've used them overseas and they get rid of the thing I hate most about regular doctors visits, the 20 page questionnaire about everything you've done since you were in kindergarten.
It was like when Radio Shack would ask for your height, weight, right thumb print, and religion to buy a 49 cent battery. Huge overkill.
Be careful about criticizing the "20 page questionnaire" at the doctor's office. It could be the key to a present or worsening medical condition.
These "retail clinics" have been showing up around the country usually in the grocery store or pharmacy setting. Certainly a need is being met by having them. There is still debate about whether the treatment is "as good as a real doctor's office" but overall it seems to be pretty close. At minimum it may serve to free up the Emergency Rooms for the real emergencies. Yes, free enterprise works, even in medicine.
Benny Truthman mentioned the hundreds of marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. Pot is de-facto legal in LA now.
It should also be noted that the murder rate in LA has gone down 40%. I wonder if there is a connection.
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