Are the New CVS "Minute Clinics" a Prescription for Disaster?

I guess it was bound to happen. With thousands of people walking around without any heath insurance, it was only a matter of time before some chain store retailer decided to get in on the "medical action". Well, today that retailer is CVS (a.k.a. "Consumer Value Stores") and its newest "isle" is the "Minute Clinic", which just recently launched at their Medway, Massachusetts location. Minute Clinics, which are slated to open through out Massachusetts in coming months, will offer limited medical examinations and services to patients at fees ranging from $59 to look at your sore throat, to $110 for a vaccine administration.

In speaking with colleagues at my law firm, there was mixed reaction about the concept. I, for one, see the concept as one fraught with potential nightmares. The "Minute Clinic" says it all - in quick - out quick. Fast food is bad enough. Fast medicine is worse. And that "minute" will not be spent with a physician who attended four years of medical school, followed by an internship and multi-year residency. Rather, it will be spent with a nurse practitioner who may - or may not - have the knowledge and experience necessary to distinguish between symptoms of the flu or a more dangerous and potentially life threatening condition. Listen - I have the utmost respect for nurse practitioners. They undergo extensive education and training and they are required to work under the supervision of a licensed physician. But how comfortable would you be undergoing a physical examination by a nurse practitioner in the middle of strip-mall drug store, knowing the "supervising physician" was twenty miles away smacking a ball around a country club golf course? It's one thing to have nurse practitioners working alongside physicians in a private office, with the ability to immediately summon a physician when needed, but let's not confuse the two. This is medicine by proxy, and I think it's dangerous.

But others argue in favor of the concept, believing that simple ear infections and other routine illnesses can be more efficiently and cost-effectively treated at a CVS, than by sitting in a crowded doctor's office or emergency room, only to pay three times the price. And when it comes to price, it's no surprise that 19 of Massachusetts leading health insurance companies are in favor of, and will cover the fees charged by Minute Clinic. We all know that health insurance companies only want what's best for us.

So for now, the jury is out. Will Minute Clinics prove to be a cost-saving remedy for an ailing economy, or a haven for medical malpractice. Only time will tell.

Comments

[Ricardo]

Thank goodness for the minute clinic. I always get sinus infections and I end up waiting in a doctor's office all afternoon and it cost $120!! Is that really necessary. It is about time they had a cheaper alternative for stuff like that.

[Michael D.]

Most people commenting have no idea how NP's and PA's function. I have 8 years in emergency medicine and not been followed around by a Physician while doing so. Common sense plays a large part of medicine. Trust me, not every physician is trustworthly.