VMSD - June 2013 - (Page 30)

S E C TOR S POT LI GH T: SERVICE RETAILING The Doctor Is In A push for more efficient healthcare challenges designers to bring medical services to retail. By Robin Donovan, Managing Editor Any Lab Test Now is probably your doctor’s worst nightmare. The service, which allows patients to request their own lab tests without a physician’s order, has even trademarked the phrase “No insurance? No problem.” It’s like Googling your own symptoms on steroids: Instead of a rumpled printout (apology expected), you can hand your physician a crisp set of lab results to back up your self-diagnosis. Whether it’s the beginning of a new age of medicine and hyper-informed patients or a symptom of rising national hypochondria, retailers launching healthcare clinics and services expect robust growth. From pharmacy-side clinics to natural health stores staffed with medical professionals, the move to harness consumers’ impatience and curiosity about their health is adding new opportunities and challenges for designers across the U.S. Oh, and Any Lab Test Now is currently franchising, if you’re interested. While these clinics offer a way to address health concerns free of scheduling hassles, they may also reflect the sobering fact that there are fewer and fewer primary care physicians. The passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, with all of its questions about curbing healthcare costs, hasn’t curtailed the flood of practitioners leaving primary care as insurer reimbursements dwindle and workloads swell. Appointment waiting lists in cities like Boston, where healthcare is already universal, are regularly longer than 60 days, according to Andrew Sussman, a physician and president of CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic (Woonsocket, R.I.). 30 JUNE 2013 | vmsd.com “Not surprisingly, Massachusetts is one of our fastest-growing markets,” Sussman says. “This demonstrates what the national experience could be in 2014.” Currently, more than 1400 retail-based clinics – MinuteClinic claims 650 of these – have popped up in “high-traffic retailer outlets with pharmacies,” according to the Convenient Care Association. A 2009 study found that retail clinics cost 30-80 percent less than comparable visits to emergency departments, urgent care clinics or physicians. These clinics reflect not only changing legislation in the U.S., but shifting American mindsets about health. And they are indicative of the move from provider-centric, symptom-based medical care to a model many hope will broaden access to preventive care without creating an unmanageable financial burden. The premise is simple: prevent costly illnesses, and you can treat more people for less. Crosby Renwick, executive director of strategy, CBX (New York), says these retail clinics are positioning themselves as self-care service providers: “People are saying, ‘You know what? I’m going to take care of this.’ They aren’t waiting for the doctor to get back to them with results.” In some cases, they aren’t visiting the doctor at all, as companies like Any Lab Test Now grow in popularity. The company has 150 stores and even offers AmeriDoc telemedicine services, which allow for physician-patient phone conferences. http://www.vmsd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of VMSD - June 2013

VMSD - June 2013
Table of Contents
From the Editor
VMSD Editorial Advisory Board
The Goods
Next Store
Great Minds Think Alike
Urban Oasis
The Doctor Is In
Natural Highlights
Best Supporting Performance
Showroom
Ad Index
Checking Out

VMSD - June 2013