In-store health clinics battle perception issues

There is a silver lining for retail clinic operators: Many argue that once people try the clinics, they like them.

Sharon Smolich recently took her 15-year-old son to an in-store health clinic to get treated for an ear infection. She liked that she was able go after hours, without missing work, and had no problem getting her insurance to cover the visit.

“(It’s) a nice in-between where you can actually get seen without having to wait a day or two or spending a couple of hundred dollars for an ER co-pay,” the 38-year-old Broomfield, Colo., resident said.

Phylis Golden, 59, visited a retail clinic for the first time when she needed to get a check-up for her 3-year-old grandson, who was in her care and did not have health insurance. She thought the service was thorough and the $65 fee was reasonable.

Golden, who lives in Dickinson, Texas, has since visited such clinics twice for her own minor ailments. After enduring hourslong waits to see her primary care physician, where she said she sometimes feels like little more than a head of cattle, she liked that she could see a nurse practitioner at the clinic immediately, without missing work.

“I see it as a much-needed service,” she said.

Still, many say they wouldn’t give it a try.

Diane Petty has visited other types of health clinics before, and she said that she generally doesn’t think the level of care is as good as you’ll find at a traditional doctor’s office. While companies may open such clinics with the best of intentions, she worries that the quality will suffer over time, as the clinics get busier and the staff more pressured.

Petty, who is 49, also is concerned that people will visit the clinics without telling their primary doctors, or vice versa. That could lead to dangerous drug interactions or other problems, she said.

The Nampa, Idaho, resident sees it as just one more sign of the health care woes facing this country.

“We already have so many areas where there’s, I guess you could say, a degraded level of health care,” Petty said.

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