Positive Trends in the Land of Retail and Workplace Clinics

By Clive Riddle, May 29, 2015

Last month, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned Manatt Health to issue an excellent 25 page report:  The Value Proposition of Retail Clinics, in which they remind us that “since first emerging on the health care landscape more than 15 years ago, retail clinics are now a common feature, with 10.5 million visits occurring annually at more than 1,800 retail clinics.

The report emphasizes the potential for current and future collaborations between retail clinic organizations and health care systems, noting “to date, more than 100 partnerships between retail clinics and health systems have been formed, linking care between retail sites and primary care medical homes, expanding after-hours care options and enabling health systems to provide patients with alternatives to emergency departments (EDs). In fact, one study estimated that up to 27 percent of ED visits could be handled appropriately at retail clinics and urgent care centers…”

With respect to the growth and scope of the retail clinic market, just this month CVS  Health’s MinuteClinic announced they  “will open more than 100 new clinics this year and anticipates surpassing 1,500 clinics by 2017,” and they have reached  the cumulative “25 Million Patient Visit Milestone.“

With respect to partnerships during the past month, California Healthline discussed: ”Kaiser-Target Partnership Sign of Times” and CVS Health announced clinical affiliations with Ochsner Health System in Louisiana and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, including their Center for Telehealth.

Meanwhile, on the workplace onsite clinic front, Towers Watson this week released their 2015 Employer-Sponsored Health Care Centers Survey report, which polled  137 U.S. employers in which 105 currently offer employer-sponsored health centers, and 15 are planning to offer by 2018, and represent 4.6 million employees.

Here’s some highlights of Towers Watson’s onsite clinic findings:

• 38% of large U.S. employers with onsite health facilities plan to add new centers over the next two years,
• 66% expect to expand or enhance the already broad services they offer by 2018
• Wellness programs are already available at 86% of the centers
• Lifestyle coaching to promote and reinforce behavior changes is currently offered at 63% of the centers
• Half of employer-sponsored health centers now offer some type of pharmacy services, up from 38% in 2012
• 35% offer telemedicine services, with another 12% planning to in the next two years.
• 40% have two to five centers
• 56% have had onsite health centers for over five years
• 55% are open before 8:00 a.m.; 32% are open after 5:00 p.m., and 16% are open on weekends
• 64% outsource managing staffing and services at the health centers
• 23% run the centers themselves
• 18% use local or regional provider groups or health systems
• 75% employers with onsite health centers calculate their ROI, up from 47% in 2012

One free resource for those monitoring activities in this sector, the Workplace & Retail Clinic Bulletin, offering free twice monthly e-newsletters.