This model of low-cost, routine primary care services after-hours in settings that most Americans could readily access has proven popular with consumers. There are now more than 1,800 retail clinics across the country, delivering a growing array of primary care services to millions of people. With virtually unfettered access to routine primary care services, one might expect that excess utilization would be generated.
As a fixture of the health care system, critical questions are rightly being asked regarding the impact that retail clinics are having on cost, access, and quality. While researchers in the Ashwood study who used claims from Aetna pointed out that they could not assess impact on total cost of care given lack of hospital and pharmacy claims in their analysis, they did find that 58 percent of retail clinic cases represented new utilization, with an associated $14 per person per year net increase in spending.
It is important to point out that the analysis did not include uninsured individuals or Medicaid beneficiaries, who are less likely to have a usual source of care or less able to access that care during regular business hours. For these individuals the retail clinic may be a much needed access point, enabling new utilization that at least the individual thinks is necessary and additional data may provide necessary by any standard.