AAFP Defines Ideal Retail Health Clinics

Retail health clinics should offer a well-defined and limited scope of services, referrals to physician practices when patients' symptoms exceed the clinics' scope of work and an operating philosophy that encourages medical homes for patients, says the AAFP Board of Directors.

Those traits should be part of the foundation on which retail health clinics should be built, according to a list of desired attributes approved by the Board and distributed Dec. 21 to constituent chapters and members.

The list will help chapters and members determine whether to work collaboratively with retail health clinics that locate in their areas, according to an intraorganizational memo from AAFP Board Chair Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif.

"We hope that the list of desired attributes will be a good starting place for discussion and negotiations at the local level," said Frank in the memo. "Rather than expending energy in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to 'stop' the retail clinic model, the goal at the national and chapter level should be to provide accurate information, to promote family medicine as the 'medical home,' and to try to ensure that clinics operate according to AAFP's desired attributes."

The desired attributes in these retail clinics are

It is key, Frank said, for all such clinics to encourage patients to have a "medical home."

Throughout 2005, the AAFP has worked with companies such as MinuteClinic and Take Care that have developed retail health clinics. The Academy will send the list of attributes to retail health clinic corporations and continue discussions with them regarding incorporating those attributes into their business operations.

In 2004, retail clinics appeared as pilot projects in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Baltimore. Today, 89 clinics operate in retail pharmacies in several areas of the country, and the companies behind the clinics have announced plans to open hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- more by the end of 2007.

Survey results reported in the AAFP 2005 Environmental Scan and an October 2005 health care poll by The Wall Street Journal Online and Harris Interactive (PDF file: 5 pages / 403 KB. More about PDFs.) said that, though patients viewed their physicians positively, they also appreciated the choice, convenience and rapid service offered by retail health clinics.

"The Future of Family Medicine report in 2004 anticipated this trend toward a more patient-centered approach to health care, and many practices are identifying ways to be more responsive to the needs of patients through practice redesign, open-access scheduling, expanded office hours and electronic health records," said Frank in the memo.

The growth of retail health clinics was spurred by several factors, including a trend toward consumerism in health care and health insurance plans that shift more responsibility and cost to the worker in plans that often waive copayments for services delivered in retail health clinics.