Letters to the Editor
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Walmart is a cancer IMHO
Now that all the mom and pops are gone and the doctors have been pushed into submission by the insurance companies, what have we got? WAL-MART of course.
This is not such a good situation, now is it? Science fiction couldn't have spun a better tale.
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You can only fight the laws of economics for so long
Doctors have done an excellent job of maintaining their monopoly, but, as with any monopoly, cracks start to form eventually. And even with such a limited amount of competition, physician practices are starting to step up a bit.
The competition is good for everybody.
Welcome to the Brave New World, docs!
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Refills
Lister wrote: "I'm sure I'm not the only one who objects to seeing a doctor whenever I need a refill on a prescription, like my asthma inhaler and my kid's acne lotion. It's $100 (I have that high-ded insurance) just to get into my doc, and he'll only do one refill, so every few months, I have to get an appt just to get a refill of perfectly safe medications. This is really stupid and wasteful of time and money."
Yikes, that is frustrating. I'm 50 and have had asthma for 15 years. When I need a new script for my inhaler I call the office, talk to a nurse who then calls me later that day to say that it has been phoned in to my pharmacy. And it generally has 4 refills. If I had to go to the doc to get a prescription written, I'd find a new doc.
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Geez, guys
First, I'll admit that our family has been blessed with medical insurance. Steadily, we pay more and more for the coverage. But both my husband and I have conditions that require ongoing care, so we ante up, mainly because something catastrophic would wipe us out. And so, we have choices, lucky us.
Second, I'll admit to formerly being employed in the health care industry on many levels. And yes, it is an industry. One of my first professors in social work school said if you want to understand a system, follow the money.
But those of you who complain about your doctor's practices re: wait time and prescription refills need to take time to find another doctor. I've lived in semi-rural and in urban areas. I've gotten second opinions on every serious diagnosis. I've had different kinds of off-hours on-call care, including pediatric emergency clinics manned by my pediatricians and other private physcians they knew. Heck, I even timed a few calls to avoid my regular doc so I could get easier access to antibiotics. He was concerned about overuse,but sometimes I felt I knew better. And I got the script over the phone.
Time consuming, hell yes. But worth it. My children do not have the hearing loss that my sister has as a result of repeated ear infections. My husband is alive, when 2 younger brothers are dead from making their own cholesterol, just like their mom. I find doctors that I can talk to and I research. I did this before the internet made it easy.
And remember, if you go to a carpenter, expect him to use a hammer. A surgeon will usually suggest surgery. I can't think of anything pithy to sum up a doctor who works for a quick clinic, on his way up or way down. (Male pronoun used for easy grammar.)
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So in short
ANYTHING you do to get healthcare is better than not getting healthcare.
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This is for MarieA
You're negative about the doctors' monopoly, but what about the W-Mart? Heck, we're approaching the old mining town, company store, company housing way of life. Doesn't that scare you more? Even if they don't own the clinics, they will dictate the terms for the clinics housed there. Wally is not known allowing freedom within their walls, and even sometimes, outside them.
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Quality of Care
Dr. Parikh writes, "Eventually, we will hear of a patient who had a bad outcome as a result of being misdiagnosed or mistreated." In terms of misdiagnosis and mistreatment, we don't have to wait for 'eventually' to find that in a doctor's office or hospital. The drop-in clinics are a result of the monopoly over health care that American medical doctors and the AMA demanded and were given a century ago. Now at long last it's starting to come back to bite them, although true to the U.S., not as a way of improving health care but as a competing business model. When, for instance, the AMA and medical providers recognize and work with alternative birth centers and midwives, then I'll believe a real transformation in health care is in the works.
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Huh?
They worry that patients will have no sensible place to follow up their test results, and that putting a clinic in a mall or a Wal-Mart could expose shoppers to people with a contagious illness.
You mean all those coughing sneezing people in my doc's waiting room aren't contagious because they are in a waiting room at a clinic?
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Need Coffee
Totally misread that sentence I commented on. However If they think you aren't exposed to people with contagious diseases just by shopping at a Wal Mart, with or without a retail clinic they've never been to a Wal Mart.
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Great idea
I remember a few years ago I got hit with a raging urinary tract infection... on a Friday, of course. I tried to wait it out until Monday (and the HOPE of an early appt. with my doctor) but by Sunday afternoon it was so bad I couldn't walk without crying. I had no choice but to limp to the hospital (a half-hour walk each way--I don't drive and it was in a place inaccessible by public transport) and pay through the nose to go the emergency room, not to mention wasting the time of doctors who had real emergencies to deal with.
How much quicker, cheaper, more efficient and more sensible it would have been for everyone involved, had I been able to go to my local Walgreens and see a nurse practitioner (I'm assuming they can do simple urine tests, or at least recognize obvious symptoms and prescribe antibiotics). Far too much money and time is spent in the emergency room for out-of-hours ailments that are not true emergencies, which jacks up costs. A lot of people use the emergency room as their doctor whenever they can't get an appt. This is the perfect solution.