Retail Health Care: Pros, Cons and Regulatory Barriers for APRNs
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December 16, 2020
Pros, Cons and Regulatory Barriers for APRNs
Retail Health Care: Pros, Cons and Regulatory Barriers for APRNs
Retail clinics are best described as medical clinics located within retail stores to provide health services that are considered as non-emergent and non-life-threatening. These facilities are usually staffed by nurse practitioners with a primary focus on convenience to patients with extended service time to include evening hours and weekends on a walk-in basis (Pollack et al., 2010). This paper will emphasize on the pros and cons of these clinics as well as the prevalent regulatory/reimbursement barriers for its health care practitioners.
The preliminary benefits offered by retail clinics is convenience. The retail clinics prevent patients hustle to try and book appointments with primary care doctors as well as reduce the overall waiting time. Similarly, convenience is promoted by the fact that the clinics offer services in hours beyond the traditional doctors working hours and days. Furthermore, the clinics are usually located in regions that are easily accessible or connected to a nearby pharmacy that dispenses prescriptions immediately after appointments. Retail clinics have set prices that are accessible to the clients through their websites or receptions. This makes it easier for people to explore the prices and decide on which clinic to visit based on their financial capabilities. The prices tend to be lower than those charged by primary care physicians or emergency rooms. These prices are conducive for patients with a regulated health insurance cover or those paying from their pockets. The quality of care provided by the clinics tends to be comparable or even superior to that provided in emergency rooms or primary care physicians. Similarly, studies indicate that retail clinics have high adherence to evidence-based guidelines (Hoff and Prout, 2019; Pollack et al., 2010).
Retail clinics also present with several drawbacks. First, the clinics are not good options for people with multiple chronic ailments patients taking multiple medicines or geriatrics. This so because of the complicatedness of the health of these patients, which requires intense service with constant review of the patients’ medical histories. Primary care doctors tend to be more reliable with this kind of patients due to their access to vast medical records and resources not accessible to retail clinics. Visiting these clinics for acute ailments continuously tends to erode the patient-primary care provider relationship, which may lead to the patient not receiving appropriate preventive care and chronic conditions by chance. Secondly, the clinics have limited acceptance of health insurance. This blocks other patients forcing them to pay from their pocket. It is also notable to indicate that most retail clinics are for-profit entities thus motivated to generate more returns by means like increased sales/prices of pharmaceutical products (Hain and Fleck, 2014; Randall et al., 2017).
The limited scope of practice in different states for the APRNs affects the degree and extent of service delivery by retail clinics. This makes it difficult for some conditions to be treated in retail clinics as such convenience and affordability of services is monopolized to primary care providers. Distinct barriers are the absence of prescription privileges in some states, payer policies,
prevention of the APRNs from handling physician-related issues and stringent licensure and practice laws (Weinick et al., 2011).
I think that retail clinics offer extensive convenience as well as affordable quality care. However, there is a need to work with other local care providers as well as increasing the scope of practice of APRNs to ensure that all services are offered, and alternatives sought out easily for all the patients.
References
Hain, D., & Fleck, L. M. (2014). Barriers to NP Practice that Impact Healthcare Redesign. Online journal of issues in nursing, 19(2), 2.
Hoff, T., & Prout, K. (2019). Comparing Retail Clinics With Other Sites of Care: A Systematic Review of Cost, Quality, and Patient Satisfaction. Medical care, 57(9), 734–741. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001164
Pollack, C. E., Gidengil, C., & Mehrotra, A. (2010). The growth of retail clinics and the medical home: two trends in concert or in conflict?. Health affairs (Project Hope), 29(5), 998–1003. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0089
Randall, S., Crawford, T., Currie, J., River, J., & Betihavas, V. (2017). Impact of community based nurse-led clinics on patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, patient access and cost effectiveness: A systematic review. International journal of nursing studies, 73, 24–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2017.05.008
Weinick, R. M., Pollack, C. E., Fisher, M. P., Gillen, E. M., & Mehrotra, A. (2011). Policy Implications of the Use of Retail Clinics. Rand health quarterly, 1(3), 9
Pros, Cons and Regulatory Barriers for APRNs
Question
Explore and research retail care clinics, including clinics in your geographic location, if they are available. Discuss the pros and cons of the existence of these clinics and the increasing expansion of the services provided by providers of these clinics. Lastly, discuss regulatory and/or reimbursement barriers for APRNs working in retail care clinics. 1pg