Conclusion/Summary of “Retailing in Healthcare”
The idea of retailing in healthcare may not seem like a topic that is discussed heavily in the healthcare system, but all of the evidence that we have given about healthcare such as, healthcare given in stores, access of healthcare, and competition between retail stores that provide healthcare, suggests that this topic is not diminutive. Our main objective throughout this blogging assignment has been to inform ourselves, as well as others, about the various factors of healthcare given in retail store locations. Healthcare servicing in stores has become a very popular form of healthcare, whether from Kmart, Target, Walmart, or Costco. Simply Retail is the founder of Healthcare Retail, and they have a website, http://simplyretailinc.com/, that offers information about their origin and motives behind the idea of opening healthcare centers in stores.
The stores mentioned above are only some of the many stores that offer healthcare services on-site. The reasons for this are obvious; more money for the stores, and discount costs for the customers. This sounds like a win-win situation, but we also discuss some win-lose situations that result from “Retailing in Healthcare,” such as, how the quicker and cheaper in-store healthcare services can only be possible for those patients who are seeking easy, less risky medical procedures.
In the future, we believe that more and more retail stores will include pharmacies, and along with these pharmacies will come healthcare services. Retailing in healthcare has been a cheaper, and easier way for low-income patients to seek the proper healthcare they need without waiting in long lines, paying double the price for healthcare, or even being on a waiting list for weeks to see the next available physician.
Our personal experiences with healthcare services provided in retail stores is a positive one. Some of us have received these healthcare services at one of the retail stores mentioned above, and are completely satisfied and we feel safe knowing that we are getting quality healthcare for a lower price.
References
The idea of retailing in healthcare may not seem like a topic that is discussed heavily in the healthcare system, but all of the evidence that we have given about healthcare such as, healthcare given in stores, access of healthcare, and competition between retail stores that provide healthcare, suggests that this topic is not diminutive. Our main objective throughout this blogging assignment has been to inform ourselves, as well as others, about the various factors of healthcare given in retail store locations. Healthcare servicing in stores has become a very popular form of healthcare, whether from Kmart, Target, Walmart, or Costco. Simply Retail is the founder of Healthcare Retail, and they have a website, http://simplyretailinc.com/, that offers information about their origin and motives behind the idea of opening healthcare centers in stores.
The stores mentioned above are only some of the many stores that offer healthcare services on-site. The reasons for this are obvious; more money for the stores, and discount costs for the customers. This sounds like a win-win situation, but we also discuss some win-lose situations that result from “Retailing in Healthcare,” such as, how the quicker and cheaper in-store healthcare services can only be possible for those patients who are seeking easy, less risky medical procedures.
In the future, we believe that more and more retail stores will include pharmacies, and along with these pharmacies will come healthcare services. Retailing in healthcare has been a cheaper, and easier way for low-income patients to seek the proper healthcare they need without waiting in long lines, paying double the price for healthcare, or even being on a waiting list for weeks to see the next available physician.
Our personal experiences with healthcare services provided in retail stores is a positive one. Some of us have received these healthcare services at one of the retail stores mentioned above, and are completely satisfied and we feel safe knowing that we are getting quality healthcare for a lower price.
References
Michelle Au
Sara Ca
Kari Fl
Diane Fu
Janet Co
Shakeitha He
Sara Ca
Kari Fl
Diane Fu
Janet Co
Shakeitha He
posted by Retailing in Healthcare @ 3:34 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Call me a cynic, but I don’t buy into retail PR talking points suggesting how the retail sector’s entry into healthcare provision is going to revolutionize healthcare by driving costs down and bringing affordable, quality prescription drugs and routine care to millions of Americans. When I hear companies like Wal-Mart evangelize to the masses about their $4 prescription drug program (available now in over 3000 stores across 39 states) with statements like this…:
"We've added more medicines to our program so we can extend these significant savings to even more Americans. No one should be denied access to the medications they need, and this program is a big step in moving our customers and communities toward access to affordable medicines (SeniorJournal, 2006)". – CEO Lee Scott
…I am reminded of Exxon-Mobil commercials proclaiming their new dedication to bio fuels and green energy while counting their record billions in profits in corporate boardrooms, all while lobbying politicians far from the public eye for looser environmental regulations.
Let’s be clear: Wal-Mart hasn’t suddenly turned philanthropic -- public citizen #1 looking out for our seniors and low-income families who just can’t catch a break with skyrocketing healthcare premiums and confusing Medicare Part D plans. Wal-Mart is in the business of driving profits in retail – one of the most cutthroat industries where slimmer margins can seldom be found – and it is the best at what it does. It saw an opportunity in healthcare and went after it. After all, healthcare organizations are famous for waste, bureaucracy, and that annoying tendency to involve ethical considerations in decision making. Americans love their $9 DVDs and $1.99 12-packs of tube socks stitched by some nine-year-old in Indonesia working for 10 cents an hour. They’ll be throwing elbows to line up for cheap drugs and booster shots too!
But wait a second. If Wal-Mart isn’t looking out for our best interests, then what could possibly be in it for them? That’s easy: drive more customers through the doors and back into the checkout lines with carts stuffed with more cheap imports. That’s right grandpa, take that $30 you saved from your generics last month and spend it on a videogame for the grandkid instead. You see, the gross margins are better in the other aisles.
Perhaps I’m being a little harsh on Wal-Mart. True, they have long resisted paying a living wage to workers, resulting in state taxpayers subsidizing a disproportionate percentage of Wal-Mart employees on Medicaid and state low-income healthcare programs. Washington State reported that Wal-Mart workers were twice more likely to be receiving government-assisted healthcare services than the next largest employer (Thomas, 2006). Lawmakers were so fed up that they are working on a bill to force companies with more than 5000 employees to commit 9% of their payroll costs into healthcare plans for their employees. So even though Wal-Mart burdens taxpayers and state healthcare systems with its cost-shifting by refusing to take responsibility for the majority of its employees’ health, at least it is trying to save seniors and working families a few dollars on generics.
Yet even that is in doubt. The National Community Pharmacists Association has accused Wal-Mart of wildly exaggerating the scope and benefits of its $4 prescription drug program. It points out that out of 11,000 prescription drugs approved for sale in the US, Wal-Mart only offers 150 unique drugs, or 1%. The other 150 claimed are duplicate versions of the same drug. It is further pointed out that Wal-Mart often contracts to distribute the oldest and most side-effect prone versions of drugs available in a category in order to negotiate the cheapest prices (SeniorJournal, 2006, sidebar).
Well to be fair, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott never claimed quality medications, but affordable ones.
And none of this begins to address how retail giants like Wal-Mart will affect traditional healthcare providers like hospitals and walk-in clinics who, already under pressure from managed care to operate on the tightest of margins, will lose valuable revenue streams from the provision of routine care that often help support the cost of operations elsewhere. What will be the real cost to the public? Will traditional facilities like outpatient facilities and walk-in clinics begin to close their doors in favor of the Mega Wal-Mart? Will quality at traditional providers suffer as they are forced into more extreme cost-cutting measures?
Nobody yet knows.
But if the grocer industry is any indications, it does not bode well for traditional providers. The problem is that healthcare isn’t a 2-liter of soda or any other such commodity. It is a fundamental lynchpin of a healthy and productive society; where ethics do matter and those who can’t afford to pay are still entitled to some minimal level of care. Will Wal-Mart be up to the task? I’m not buying it.
References:
SeniorJournal (2006). Wal-Mart Marches on to 11 New States with $4 Generic Drug Program. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/MedicareDrugCards/6-11-16-Wal-MartMarchesOn.htm.
Thomas, R. (February 8, 2006). State subsidy to Wal-Mart employees put at $12 million. Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002791346_walmart07m.html.
Group 1, I've enjoyed following your postings throughout this semester. Thanks for all of your great input on retail clinics during this time. I'd like to leave off with posting one final thought about retail clinics while also getting to the bottom of exactly what is saved or lossed when seeking retail healthcare. The comment in your posting is made that consumers save when seeking healthcare, so I've done some research to find out what and how much is exactly saved.
One of the largest founding retail clinics is based out of Minneapolis, Minn. and goes by the name MinuteClinic, also now found in CVS stores around the country. Truely MinuteClinic seeks quick wait times and low costs for their patients. MinuteClinic boasts an average of 31 dollars saved per visit by it's 2005 consumers. Thats a 15% savings on average.
These MinuteClinc and like competitors I believe are really the wave of the future. It's a sign of where we are as a nation in heatlhcare. These clinics are satifying the need for quick low cost heatlh services for the growing population without health insurance.
What retail clinics will mean to the strugling local family physician I believe is yet to be seen. However the obvious amergance of retail clincs as one of our nations major players in healthcare is soon to be seen by all.
To get more information or to check out my works cited please visit this website.
http://www.chcf.org/documents/policy/HealthCareInTheExpressLaneRetailClinics.pdf
Works Cited:
Scott, M (2006, July). California healthcare foundation. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from Healthcare in the Express Lane: The Emergence of Retail Clinics. Web site: http://www.chcf.org/documents/policy/HealthCareInTheExpressLaneRetailClinics.pdf
Miniclinics are here to stay. An article in TIME Magazine (March 2006) illustrates how this market is growing -
“MinuteClinic had 20 outlets up and running in two states last September. It now has 73 in nine states, and by the end of the year will have some 300 in 17 states”
Money is a driving factor in our economy and if investors recognize a need they will find a way to make it profitable. Co-founder of Take Care Health Systems, Hal Rosenbluth, sold his travel company to compete with MinuteClinic. A lot of investment money is flowing into this market sector.
Of course money alone is not enough. Basic economics of supply and demand is at work here. People want service and they want it on their time schedule. To be able to just “drop in” at a clinic when you are not feeling well is convenient. The article quotes Rosenbluth “People want immediate gratification, if they’re sick, they don’t want to hear about waiting two days for help.”
“Get a checkup in aisle 3.” Time, March 20, 2006.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1172230-1,00.html
kevin k,
You are a cynic! Wal-mart is an amazing story and a very philanthropic organization. CEO Scott's statement is indeed true, and to my knowledge Wal-mart has never been convicted of any criminal wrongdoing. Wal-mart will fill the niche of consumers that do not want to spend all day in their physicians office just to be diagnosed with a ear infection or all night in the ER waiting for a x-ray. I do not see anything unethical in Wal-marts wanting to provide another service in their stores, it is response to customer desires. If you really want to see where healthcare is going, google "medical tourism". The healthcare industry is going to be forced to compete with overseas hospitals and some mighty big changes are in store. But back to Wal-mart, my prediction is that more people will be receiving some type of care with retail clinics than without them. After all, isn't that the whole idea?
Martinto
Group one, I have benfited from your postings and have learned a great deal about retail clinics. This concept is very exciting to watch as it unfolds. In closing, I would like to comment on the general benfits and particular concerns in retail clincs.
The retail clinic is a revolutionary idea for the health care industry. Just like any new idea there are pros and cons with the implementation of these clinics. I would like to elaborate on the situations in which your group stated to be “win-win” and “win-lose” situations. Consumers are embracing retails clinics as solutions to healthcare access and affordability. On the other hand, physicians are resisting retail clinics because nurse practitioners and physician assistants may lack the qualifications in diagnosing patients and developing treatment plans.
The model of retail clinics is primarily “consumer directed.” Consumers are able to choose how they will take care of their healthcare needs at a reduced price. This program puts the control in the consumer’s hands. With the visits ranging from $39.00 to $59.00 consumers are given an alternative to their healthcare needs. This ultimately benefits the consumer because they do not have to wait for a doctor’s appointment or sit in a costly emergency room(Brower, Amanda).
Alternatively, there is a growing concern from physicians about this revolutionary concept of healthcare. Physicians are contradicting the qualifications of the nurse practitioners and physician’s assistant that staff retail clinics. One of these opposing views states that medicine has to have quality and accountability because you are dealing with people’s lives not fast food (Brower, Amanda). Physicians are becoming worried that this new health care model too closely resembles a business model (Brower, Amanda).
Both views to this concept are valid. Consumers reap benefits of a more convenient health care option while physicians believe the retail clinic’s staffs are under qualified. Ultimately it comes down to the doctors and physician’s assistants feeling comfortable enough and putting patient safety and the quality first. This will provide the consumer with a more convenient health care model without severely compromising their health.
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