Retail Clinics: "Disruptive Innovation and Improved Value Proposition" v. Govt. Takeover of Healthcare
From a Reuters report yesterday: "CVS has invested heavily in its walk-in MinuteClinic medical clinics, and plans to double the number of locations to 1,000 by 2015."
1. "Retail clinics represent a new channel to deliver primary care services more conveniently and at lower cost to consumers. Clinic services are safe and effective, due in large measure to medical management programs that are evidence-based and supported by electronic medical records. As a new entrant, retail clinics represent a threat to many traditional health care industry stakeholders; however, to consumers, health plans and employers they offer an important care alternative with a strong value proposition.
2. The growth and evolution of retail clinics reflect opportunities for disruptive innovation and an improved value proposition for the U.S. health care system."
MP: It's encouraging that even though Obama and the Democrats in Congress disregarded any market-based health care solutions and legislated a federal government takeover of the nation's health care system, private companies like CVS are still pursuing market-based solutions to health care by investing in retail clinics that provide convenient health care 7 days a week, with affordable, transparent low prices.
2. The growth and evolution of retail clinics reflect opportunities for disruptive innovation and an improved value proposition for the U.S. health care system."
MP: It's encouraging that even though Obama and the Democrats in Congress disregarded any market-based health care solutions and legislated a federal government takeover of the nation's health care system, private companies like CVS are still pursuing market-based solutions to health care by investing in retail clinics that provide convenient health care 7 days a week, with affordable, transparent low prices.
14 Comments:
From the Deloitte Study:
"Utilization appears to be
cyclical, with MinuteClinic being forced to close over 15
percent of its clinics outside of flu season; this trend will
likely prompt a calculated service expansion to ensure that
clinics can stay operational 12 months of the year."
The retail clinics are prime candidates for running specials on preventative care. Summer is the down time for flu and slow time for retail so having discounts on check-ups would bring customers in. Preventative care is really pushed in Obama-care so this meshes nicely. Look for coupon specials next summer for doc-in-the boxes!
It would be nice to have a state by state look at the regulations that are holding this up.
I got a "free" flu shot at CVS last month. Of course there is no such thing as a free flu shot....
What happened was they were running a special with P&G, and if you bought $30 worth of selected P&G products, they gave you a coupon good for a flu shot that had a retail value of $29.95.
I was planning on getting a flu shot anyway, so I bought $30 worth of toothpaste, which I will eventually use. In effect I got $30 worth of toothpaste free of charge, in return for getting a flu shot that I was going to get any day now (then) anyway.
I'm still not sure who actually paid for the promotion, nor what the cost/benefit to them was.
Deloitte released this on Monday, May 03, 2010: Retail Clinics: 2010 Survey of Health Care Consumers
This paragraph of this short news release struck me as interesting: 'The results were revealing. Recipients of public insurance – e.g., Medicaid and Medicare – are much less interested in walk-in service to save money or to be treated immediately. The elderly generally express higher levels of disinterest, yet Floridians – far more than consumers in the other three most populous states – reported greater interest in using one'...
This speaks volumes to me about people getting medical care on someone else's extorted wealth...
The health system in the U.S. is extortion. CVS flu clinics are three decimal points rounding errors.
marmico-
how does that chart demonstrate extortion?
spending more of GDP on healthcare does not mean it is mispriced. it may just mean we consume a lot of it, which is reasonable in a society much wealthier than those others.
we probably spend more of GDP on video games and plastic surgery than anyone else too.
that's just a sign of wealth.
"The health system in the U.S. is extortion"...
Well marmico you're right but driving the costs of health care are both forces seen and unseen...
Who do you think ends up ultimately paying for the something like this bit posted on Boing Boing?
A night in a Detroit trauma ward
(h/t to Instapundit for the link)
Give me a break.
CVS and WalMart clinics are not "solutions for health care"
IT IS NOT EXTORTED AS LONG AS YOU ARE GUARANTEED THE SAME OPPORTUNITY WHEN YOU NEED IT.
CVS and WalMart clinics are not "solutions for health care"...
Well apprently as things stand now the CVS and Walmart offerings are much better solutions than ObamaCare...
it may just mean we consume a lot of it, which is reasonable in a society much wealthier than those others
Don't think so, at least according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
The charts.
An analogy would be that the U.S. health care system is operated by a payday lender rather than a low cost checking account provider.
Funny how the McKinsey Global Institute people skirted the medical cost shifting problem we all end up paying for in the end...
Let's face it, we have socialized medicine and medicine is being delivered without a pricing system. So, no more free care. Everyone is given an option to receive a government plan which will be low cost based without exclusions on the large government population. The plan provides basic GP visits, a sliding deductible and catastrophic care. People get more consistent care for chronic diseases which is certainly less expensive than the ER and people will consume less.
"Let's face it, we have socialized medicine and medicine is being delivered without a pricing system. So, no more free care"...
Well Michael Cottle, 'free care' was never free as you know...
I have a better idea, let's quit ripping off physcians, hospitals, and taxpayers by getting rid of EMTALA...
Post a Comment
<< Home