By Lydia Ramsey 6 hours ago
Minute clinics sound ideal: You pop into a drugstore, remember that you need a flu shot, and just like that you're inoculated — no need to stop by a full-blown hospital or make an appointment.
But in a fairly unexpected twist of events, it turns out they're not saving the healthcare industry any money.
A study published in the journal Health Affairs suggests that walk-in clinics actually aren't that useful on the cost-cutting front, since the majority of people who use them do so for mild symptoms, like sore throats or coughs, that typically go away without treatment.
Additionally, when combined with other forms of preventive care and the cost of patients substituting regular doctor visits for trips to these clinics, the visits accounted for an increase of $14 a person each year on healthcare spending.
According to the report, there are 2,000 retail clinics in locations that even include your local Walgreens and your local grocery store. The theory behind putting these in stores is that giving people easy access to healthcare providers makes it more likely that they'll treat ailments or opt into preventive measures than they would be if they had to make an extra stop to a hospital or primary-care doctor.
To that end, the retail clinics are working: The study found that 42% of those using the clinic had substituted it for services they would otherwise go to a primary-care doctor or emergency room for.
But with 58% of people frequenting the clinics for ailments that might not have needed treating, the overall effect has been an increase in spending.
Going forward, the public-health researchers suggested investigating what happens when minute clinics start to replace doctors for more chronic conditions, like diabetes. It could also be interesting to find other settings for the same kinds of convenience (walk-in appointments, extended hours, etc.) at doctor's offices and emergency-room visits.
Comments:
Niall" The study found that 42% of those using the clinic had substituted it for services they would otherwise go to a primary-care doctor or emergency room for."
75% of emergency room visits could be taken care of at these clinics.
The average cost of an emergency room visit is $1,400 compared to an average of $120 for these clinics. This means that even if 58% of the clinic visits are unnecessary (and dont' forget a majority of these would have gone to the ER), the clinics still saved the system an enormous amount of money.
This article demonstrates a woeful inability to analyse numbers.
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retired4goodThe study found that 42% of those using the clinic had substituted it for services they would otherwise go to a primary-care doctor or emergency room for. But with 58% of people frequenting the clinics for ailments that might not have needed treating, . The study has four problems, they used insurance claims from just one insurer, they tracked only 11 common ailments, and could not separate out urgent care use from the minute clinics (btw, the authors acknowledge the problems), and only those with insurance. It begs some questions and I can only answer based on behavior at the facility I use has a hospital and ER, and they added on a regular clinic and a walk in clinic in one building. They designed it that way to be able to decide where the person really needs to go for care. They did an analysis comparing three years before the ACA and three years after implementation. ER use for minor ailments of the study dropped by 40%, ER costs that used to be declared non recoverable dropped by 60% (more people with insurance), an initial spike in walk in clinic visits were mostly people who hadn't had insurance before and it dropped after they got a doctor in the regular clinic. It works here. I can't say anything about elsewhere other than I had one time while traveling where an urgent care clinic was much cheaper and faster than going to an ER.
