How will Wal-Mart clinics affect health care?
Posted
Mar 03 2008, 02:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
What will be the "Wal-Mart effect" on health care as the retail behemoth proceeds with plans to open walk-in clinics in hundreds of its stores? A post by Jessica Hupp at RNCentral.com describes 20 possible impacts -- and most are positive.
Consider this: Isn't it likely that health care costs will come down as other providers try to compete with Wal-Mart's lower prices?
Some of the benefits Jessica lists are: more access to immunizations; more-affordable health care -- Wal-Mart will charge $65 fee or less for a "get well" visit, compared with the $96 we recently spent out-of-pocket for a brief visit to our physician; better access to health care during off-hours, in rural areas and for the uninsured; and fewer nonemergency patients clogging up emergency rooms.
Among the drawbacks: "In the health care world, cheaper isn't always better, and competing with Wal-Mart clinics could result in decreased quality of care," Jessica writes. Plus, the nurse practitioners who staff Wal-Mart clinics will use a computer program to help with diagnosis, and Jessica notes that "critics are worried that this type of diagnosis will cause important intricacies to be missed."
Also, as people with minor illnesses abandon their regular doctors for Wal-Mart clinics, those physicians will be left with patients who need complicated care. Jessica says, "These patients are generally less profitable, and could cause monetary problems for these offices."
