The Geographic Distribution, Ownership, Prices, and Scope of Practice at Retail Clinics
- Rena Rudavsky, BS;
- Craig Evan Pollack, MD, MHS; and
- Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH
Abstract
Background: Retail clinics are clinics within a retail store that provide simple acute and preventive care services for a fixed price without an appointment.
Objective: To describe characteristics of retail clinics, including their location, scope of practice, prices, acceptance of insurance, and ownership, and to estimate the proportion of the U.S. population that lives within a short driving distance of such a clinic.
Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.
Setting: United States.
Participants: All 982 retail clinics operating as of August 2008.
Measurements: Population living within a 5- and 10-minute driving distance of a retail clinic.
Results: In August 2008, 42 operators ran 982 clinics in 33 states; 88.4% were located in urban areas. Nearly half (44%) of all clinics were located in 5 states (Florida, California, Texas, Minnesota, and Illinois). All offered sore throat treatment (average price, $78) and more than 95% offered treatment of skin conditions, immunizations, pregnancy testing, and lipid or diabetes screening. Almost all (97%) accepted private insurance and Medicare fee-for-service (93%). Among 42 clinic operators, 25 are existing health care companies that operate 11% of the clinics, and 3 are for-profit retail chains that operate 73% of the clinics. An estimated 10.6% of the total U.S. and 13.4% of the urban U.S. population lives within a 5-minute driving distance of a retail clinic, whereas 28.7% (total) and 35.8% (urban) live within a 10-minute driving distance.
Limitation: Our inventory of clinics stopped in August 2008 and estimates of proximity are based on 2000 census data.
Conclusion: Retail clinics are positioned to provide immunizations and care for simple acute conditions for a substantial segment of the urban U.S. population.
Primary Funding Source: California Healthcare Foundation.
Article and Author Information
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Acknowledgment: The authors thank Mary Kate Scott and Caroline Ridgeway for reviewing the list of retail clinic operators and Preethi Sama and Martha Timmer for their time collecting data and programming.
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Grant Support: By the California Healthcare Foundation; a career development award (KL2 RR024154-03) from the National Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes of Health (Dr. Mehrotra); and the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program (Dr. Pollack).
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Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
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Reproducible Research Statement: Study protocol, statistical code, and data set: Available from Dr. Mehrotra (e-mail, mehrotra{at}rand.org).
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Requests for Single Reprints: Ateev Mehrotra, MD, RAND Health, 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; e-mail, mehrotra{at}rand.org.
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Current Author Addresses: Ms. Rudavsky and Dr. Pollack: RAND Health, 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050.
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Dr. Mehrotra: RAND Health, 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665.
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Author Contributions: Conception and design: R. Rudavsky, C.E. Pollack, A. Mehrotra.
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Analysis and interpretation of the data: R. Rudavsky, A. Mehrotra.
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Drafting of the article: R. Rudavsky, C.E. Pollack, A. Mehrotra.
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Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: R. Rudavsky, C.E. Pollack, A. Mehrotra.
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Final approval of the article: C.E. Pollack, A. Mehrotra.
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Provision of study materials or patients: R. Rudavsky.
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Obtaining of funding: A. Mehrotra.
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Administrative, technical, or logistic support: R. Rudavsky, A. Mehrotra.
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Collection and assembly of data: R. Rudavsky, A. Mehrotra.
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