Nagged by a persistent cough for the past three weeks, Kara Ramos headed to a small clinic inside a local CVS drugstore in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood on a recent afternoon.
Ramos, a self-employed makeup artist without insurance, is one of a growing number of Americans with colds, strep throat and other minor ailments visiting walk-in retail clinics that offer medical care at a lower cost than doctors’ offices.
The clinic on North Highland Avenue is one of 31 such CVS Caremark MinuteClinics in metro Atlanta teaming up with Emory Healthcare. The new affiliation means patients see nurse practitioners as they did before, but now the nurse practitioners can turn to Emory doctors for help with diagnosis and treatment.
John Fox, CEO of Emory Healthcare, said Emory did a lot of research before agreeing to work with MinuteClinics and found the clinics had a strong track record and follow strict clinical guidelines.
While the clinics bring more customers inside the doors of CVS stores, they also benefit Emory. Easier, more affordable access to care for non-emergencies can lessen costly, unnecessary hospital ER visits.
Patients who use the MinuteClinics aren't obligated to get their prescriptions at CVS or to use Emory doctors for follow-up care.
This is the latest in an increasing number of partnerships between health systems and other types of medical providers that aims to keep people healthier and out of the hospital. It's a trend that looks to the future of health care because the way hospitals are paid is shifting to a system focused on a patient’s overall care, as opposed to paying per service, said William Custer, a health care expert at Georgia State University.
MinuteClinic has already formed partnerships with 11 other health systems across the country. Meanwhile, drugstore chain Walgreens is offering some hospitals bedside delivery of medications with pharmacists answering questions before patients leave. Hospitals are also working with home health care companies to help make sure patients who are discharged don't end up back in the hospital within weeks; Emory is looking at a similar type of partnership.
Retail clinics -- typically located inside drugstores or big-box stores such as Walmart and run by nurse practitioners -- began popping up in 2000 and now number roughly 1,200 nationwide, according to RAND Corp., a nonprofit research group. CVS has more than 600 MinuteClinics nationwide and is adding around 100 a year.
The clinics aren't replacements for physician offices but can provide services when patients need to be seen after hours or on a weekend, said MinuteClinic President Andrew Sussman.
Care at retail clinics is also roughly 30 percent to 40 percent less expensive than similar quality care at a doctor’s office or urgent care center and 80 percent cheaper than the ER, according to a RAND study.
“It’s costing the patient less,” Fox said. “It’s getting patients served faster.”
Like Ramos, roughly 25 percent to 30 percent of patients who visit the Virginia-Highland clinic don’t have insurance, said Holly McDonald, MinuteClinic district manager of operations. Clinic visits start at $79 to $89 with additional charges for tests, and they accept insurance.
It’s clean and the nurse practitioners are friendly, unlike some other health clinics Ramos, 38, said she’s visited where “it’s kind of like a cattle call.”
The partnership between Emory and MinuteClinic will include Emory doctors serving as medical directors, who will do quality checks on medical charts to be sure patients have received the best care. The two also will eventually be linked by electronic health records, which provide an overall better picture of patients' care, McDonald said.
Emory and MinuteClinic will inform patients of each other's services and work together on patient education and disease management efforts. Clinic nurse practitioners can help monitor patients' diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic illnesses.
They will not share profits or make payments to each other. MinuteClinic will pay its medical directors who are affiliated with Emory a fee for their services.
For patients, retail clinics mean more choice and convenience, Custer said. If they need a prescription filled or bandages, they can get it at the drugstore without having to drive elsewhere -- a boost for CVS business, he said, adding that CVS also benefits from being linked to Emory, known for its high quality of care.
Sussman said the country is facing a shortage of primary care doctors with demand expected to spike as millions more Americans gain insurance or Medicaid benefits under the federal health care overhaul.
“We feel like we’re filling an important gap,” he said.
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