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Joe Bucherer
Segmentation Analytics,
ACNielsen Homescan & Spectra
“Would you like some chicken soup with that prescription?” While grocery stores have always stocked this form of “liquid penicillin,” today they’re home to the real deal—walk-in clinics staffed by nurse practitioners licensed to diagnose and treat common conditions such as allergies, bladder infections, bronchitis, ear infections, the flu, heartburn, muscle pain, pink eye, minor burns and rashes. See chart 1.
The ultimate in one-stop shopping, patients can see a health care professional, hang a left to get the prescription filled, and be on their way in 20 minutes. Anyone who has cooled their heels in the typical general practitioner’s waiting room knows that that kind of turnaround time represents a true medical miracle.
The consumer pulse
Clearly, consumers are warming-up to the walk-in clinic concept. In a Spring 2006 survey, ACNielsen Homescan & Spectra took the publicÕs temperature on the walk-in clinic subject and discovered that one-third of respondents were either very or somewhat likely to visit a walk-in clinic
located in a grocery, drug store or mass merchandiser. See chart 2.
While half of participating households had visited a doctor’s office in the last year, 8% had visited an independent or freestanding walk-in clinic, and another 1% had visited a walk-in clinic embedded in a retail format.
Presently, walk-in clinics appear to be a perimeter
phenomenon, with the South Atlantic (21%) and East North Central (16%) regions leading on a household patronage basis, followed by the Pacific and West South Central areas at 13% each. The eastern geographic skew may reflect a travel pattern of older New Yorkers commuting between their winter home in Florida and the Empire state.
Everybody wins
Many walk-in retail clinics, like the 100-square-foot MinuteClinics, are designed and sited to feel like an extension of the store pharmacy counter, virtually ensuring captive Rx sales.
While the retailer incentives are obvious and include driving traffic to the store, raising trip counts and creating the opportunity for incremental sales, the walk-in clinics benefit insurers as well. One Minnesota-based health plan determined that the walk-in clinic fees are so low (a minimum of 30% below a regular doctor visit), that the insurer waived any co-pay to encourage members to utilize the new service.
A rash of growth
Popularity has led to proliferation. Among the more appealing aspects of the walk-in clinics are the easy physical access, proximity to home and work, available parking,
intimate formats (smaller ones have chairs vs. exam tables), posted prices, evening and weekend hours, and electronic patient files that can be quickly transmitted to doctors along with a referral.
Wal-Mart expects to open 50 stores by 2007, then roll out the service nationally. TakeCare has slated 20 Chicago area clinics for third-quarter 2006. MedXpress launched this summer and debuted an aggressive expansion plan calling for 500 U.S. locations by 2010. Solantic, a Florida-based company differentiating on the basis of physician staffing, intends to have 1,000 sites up and running over the next
five years.
Rx for the ER?
One of the newest developments in consumer-driven
healthcare, walk-in clinics represent the latest response
to a system that encourages patients to control health
costs. As a serendipitous by-product, walk-in clinics
may prove to be a much-needed panacea for
overtaxed emergency rooms, and an antidote for
the 40 million uninsured Americans who represent
the target audience.
The cost savings are undeniable. One uninsured New
York City paralegal priced out a doctor’s visit to deal
with a minor problem. Quote: $150 for the visit.
Opting to try the walk-in clinic solution, she walked
out with two prescriptions and a bill for $49,
including medications.
Profit prognosis
If retailers needed any additional motivation to take
a serious run at the walk-in solution, the most telling
diagnostic is the profitability test. According to a California HealthCare Foundation study, prescription drug margins run around 16% compared with general merchandise profits of less than 5%. That translates into a profit injection for the bottom line, even as center store results weaken.
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