Aaron Carroll Defends Retail Clinics
So almost 20% of people need to wait at least a week to see a doctor when they are sick. Try getting a same day appointment if you can. Or, even better, try getting an appointment before or after work. Or on a weekend …
Almost two thirds of Americans have trouble getting care on nights, weekends, and holidays. You know what? A significant amount of the week is filled with nights, weekends, and holidays….
It’s fine to believe that people should try and see the doctor in the office. But if you want that to happen, then you need the office to be available. If retail clinics do a much better job in that respect, you can’t complain when people make use of them.
This might also be the thing the helps people this holiday season. MBCR will nominate one fortunate person to have their medical bills paid. Details are found here: http://t.co/eawu8OC9
Good to see that the folks at The Incidental Ecnomist are in favor of a little free enterprise.
Even better, you could adopt the systems used in much of the OECD that have shorter wait times than we do.
Steve
Retail clinics are slowly losing some of their stigma among physicians. A few years ago the American Academy of Family Physicians sponsored a report that advised members that the retail clinic train had left the state and there was no turning it back.
Wisely, it advised members that part of the solution to competing with retail clinics was to copy some of their convenience.
@Steve,
Systems in the OECD that have shorter wait times for what? A simple appointment at which the doctor does nothing but advise one to make another appointment for treatment.
At least some published work, and a lot of anecdote, suggests that an office visit in much of the OECD is not directly comparable with office visits in the U.S.