2nd Retail Clinic Opens in DC 4 Miles from Capitol

WASHINGTON (Oct. 18) -- "MinuteClinic celebrated the opening of its second clinic location inside a CVS/pharmacy store in the District of Columbia with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The new MinuteClinic, located inside the CVS/pharmacy at 320 40th Street NE in the Benning neighborhood, serves residents in Ward 7 and is within walking distance of Metro stations on the orange and blue lines, as well as Metrobus service. It joins the first MinuteClinic to open in the district at 845 Bladensburg Rd. NE in Ward 5 in the Carver Langston neighborhood.

MinuteClinic stressed its commitment to helping the "district broaden access to healthcare services," and plans to announce additional openings in the coming year. MinuteClinic locations also can be found inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland and in cities throughout Northern Virginia."

MP: CVS is aggressively expanding its retail clinics around the country, and plans to double the number of locations from 500 to 1,000 by 2015 (source).  This second CVS retail clinic in the District of Columbia is only four miles from the U.S. Congress, and follows the first CVS clinic only two miles from the Capitol (see map above, click to enlarge).  

As I pointed out in a previous post, 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. 

Now that there are two market-based alternatives to government-run healthcare within 4 miles of the U.S. Capitol, maybe some members of Congress could go out and see what the private sector is doing to provide convenient, affordable health care solutions.  As a Deloitte report concluded last year:

"The growth and evolution of retail clinics reflect opportunities for disruptive innovation and an improved value proposition for the U.S. health care system."