Back in July BusinessWeek Online reported how retail companies such as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: WMT), Walgreen Company (NYSE: WAG), and CVS Corporation (NYSE: CVS) have began offering walk-in clinic services. The clinics accept most major health plans, are staffed by certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and offer treatments for such illnesses as ear infections and flu. These treatments are offered at a third to a fifth of the price of a doctor appointment. The American Academy of Family Physicians, threatened by the phenomenon or genuinely concerned, has stated its uneasiness about the clinics.
Now with the flu season at our doorstep and flu vaccinations beginning, doctors are even more concerned. Last year, doctors couldn't get their orders of flu vaccinations filled. This was not because of a shortage, but because the retailers stocked up. Walgreens (NYSE:WAG), Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) and CVS are planning this year now to offer flu vaccine shots clinics in October and November. Can a physician compete with such buying power from the big corporations? The answer is no. While distributors claim manufacturers are simply late with the drug this year due to newly encountered strains and FDA regulations, the retail chains aren't planning to use distributors at all but to buy the vaccines directly from the manufacturers.
The real question is whether the people benefit from what is offered in the retail chains, usually a cheaper and faster service one could get at in a doctor's clinic, or whether there is some cause for concern. Some of those clinics now offer services such as screening for diabetes and high blood pressure and provide vaccines for hepatitis B, tetanus, as well as the flu.
Notwithstanding Wal-Mart's latest generic drugs price cut, can these retail stores clinics indeed improve health-care by delivering "convenient and affordable care for patients with common ailments," or does that sound like the retailers have gone too far with their thirst for revenue?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-21-2006 @ 12:28PM
Michael Schneider said...
Walgreen's has been offering flu shots at many of its stores for years. There shouldn't be a problem with it- some clinics get crowded and you have some chance of getting sick with all the sick people there. It depends how far they go but it is convenient to have that.
Walmart's move on generic drugs today shouldn't have been that big of a surprise. Wal-Mart has long been a competitor to those stores. Why wouldn't they try to undercut competitors on prices like they do with other retailers?