Illinois doctors wary on Wal-Mart clinics
Add some doctors to the people who have a problem with Wal-Mart. According to the Financial Times, Illinois may impose restrictions on "walk-in" clinics being planned not just by Wal-Mart, but CVS, and Walgreens.
Advocates say the clinics will improve access to healthcare and reduce costs; that they will reduce more expensive visits to hospital emergency rooms; and that they will catch some illnesses before they become serious and costly. As a result, physicians will have more time for complex cases.
But the clinics also have a direct impact on doctors, who see themselves as the gatekeepers of common, everyday healthcare.
Dr Rodney Osborn, president of the Illinois State Medical Society, said: "This is a brand new animal. That’s why we believe legislation is important to guarantee patient safety ... They’re not putting these things in to provide healthcare; these people are businessmen."
What a bunch of crap. Doctors are businessmen and businesswomen too. But they're not the best at delivering good business services.
Most doctor's offices, those not in hospitals, usually are in bad locations, with minimal parking available, and cramped waiting rooms stocked with magazines from the Bill Clinton era.
The Illinois State Medical Society and its doctors only want to preserve its near-monopoly of heatlh care services
Dr. Arnold Millstein told Financial Times:
[Doctors] wrap themselves in the holy garb of quality ... completely ignoring the facts that all the research shows current care stinks. The weaknesses that are endemic in the current healthcare system are being trotted out to block innovation and change.
The retail walk-in clinics are a good idea. Many people are afraid of visiting doctors, and a medical office in a store like Wal-Mart might assuage those fears. And for those who don't have health insurance, paying out of pocket will be less expensive than visiting those offices with all those old magazines.
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