Retail clinic use tripled between 2007 and 2010, though use of the service remains low, at just under 3 percent, according to a report from Kaiser Health News.
While retail clinics are sometimes mentioned as potential community hubs for preventative care in line with the goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the report mentions retail clinics cater to wealthier populations, with 37 percent of families making six times the poverty level living near a retail clinic and 25 percent of families making up to two times the poverty level living near a retail clinic.
Ateev Mehrotra, MD, associate professor in the department of healthcare policy at Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard Medical School told Kaiser Health News the statistics may have to do with who is able to pay for retail clinic visits. The visits may be covered under more expensive plans, and people with lower incomes may not be able to afford the out-of-pocket cost an uncovered retail clinic visit would require.
More Articles on Retail Clinics:
Study: More Than $472M Potential Savings With Retail Clinic NPs
Wellstar, Walgreens Form Clinical Collaboration
The Role of Ambulatory Networks in Hospitals' Population Health Efforts