Mass. Approves In-Store Medical Clinics

Via CoyoteBlog, the Massachusetts Public Health Council is going to allow pharmacies and retailers to run in-store health clinics for relatively simple ailments. This is a great way to lower the cost of healthcare and reduce the burden on hospitals.

More than that, as all those stores in the front of Wal-mart prove, convenience turns out to be a good way to reduce costs because it makes a service more immediately responsive to the market. Small clinics which treat minor maladies will only be cost effective if they manage to treat patients more quickly or cheaply than hospitals GPs. This is merely an extension of the walk-in clinics that sprang up all over during the 1990s.

Of course, if there's a whiff of economics involved, a liberal idiot will have to step in and say something stupid:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino embarked on a highly public campaign yesterday to block CVS Corp. and other retailers from opening medical clinics inside their stores, an effort that exposed a rift between Menino and the state's public health commissioner, a longtime ally. more stories like this

Menino blasted state regulators for paving the way Wednesday for the in-store clinics, which are designed to provide treatment for sore throats, poison ivy, and other minor illnesses.

The decision by the state Public Health Council, "jeopardizes patient safety," Menino said in a written statement. "Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene. Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong."

Because in fantasy-land, healthcare isn't a multi-billion dollar industry.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 02:40 PM

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