While the number of retail clinics has more than doubled in the last seven years from 600 to approximately 1,500 retail clinics, there is no correlation between the presence of retail clinics and reductions in emergency department patient volumes, according to a new report from Opera Solutions, a data analytics company.
For the study, Opera Solutions gathered data on ED volumes for 32 hospital-retail clinic pairs consisting of one of 10 randomly selected hospitals in a 19-hospital system and the retail clinics within a 30-mile radius of each hospital.
Neither the opening of a retail clinic nor the distance of the retail clinic from a hospital ED was associated with a reduction in hospital patient volumes, according to the report.
Despite the convenience upon which retail clinics brand themselves, this finding may point to separate markets for hospital services and retail clinic services, according to the report.
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