The State of Convenient Care

Earlier this week, the Convenient Care Mini-Summit was held during the National Consumer Driven Healthcare Summit in Washington, DC. The Mini-Summit was sponsored by the Convenient Care Association. Speakers included: Tine Hansen-Turton, Executive Director, Convenient Care Association; Mary Kate Scott, President, Scott and Company; Chris Kersey, MD, Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Medical Officer, RediClinic; Ann Ritter, Policy Director, Convenient Care Association; Sarah Ratner, Senior Legal Counsel, MinuteClinic; and Brian Jones, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, MedBasics.

Here's some key tidbits on what's going on in the Convenient Care sector that the faculty shared during the Mini-Summit:

• The first Convenient Care clinic opened in 2000, today there are 500 clinics operated by over 20 companies, and there may be as much as 700 clinics by the end of the year
• New facilities getting smaller - many around 220 square feet in size
• Health Plan formulary compliance has not a significant issue due to limited scope of services
• 30-35% of clinic patients represent a new Rx to the sponsoring Rx retailers
• Minute clinic has experienced 1 million cumulative visits with no malpractice cases. The lack of malpractice claims is at least partially due to the limited scope of services provided in a Convenient Care setting
• The target demographic, based on studies: the most typical Convenient Care consumer is female, the healthcare decision maker in their household, and a mom.
• BCBS Minnesota for example in their claims for Convenient Care found that 63% of patients were female and 48% under age 21
• The two big challenges facing Convenient Care are state regulations and proving the financial model. Regulation of the industry is fragmented on a state-by-state basis, with some states proactively welcoming the industry, while a few have hostile regulations that often don't apply to other types of providers. Problem regulation states cited included NY, CA, PA, and KY.
• A clinic system might have 85% fixed costs, with 100+ clinics needed for breakeven in a standard retail model
• A Hospital sponsored financial model is very different than the standard retail model

For any stakeholder interesting in Convenient Care Delivery, if they aren't already a member, they should consider joining the Convenient Care Association. More information about the Association can be obtained at their web site: www.convenientcareassociation.org , or by calling 215-731-7140