Retail Health Clinics: Convenience Trumps Service And Quality

Retail health clinics, offering consumers basic healthcare services at low, fixed prices, are cropping up nationwide. While only a small percentage of consumers have used these clinics, retail giants such as CVS/pharmacy, Target, and Wal-Mart Stores are increasingly placing clinics in their stores, and many major health plans now cover clinic visits. Thus, Forrester expects consumer visits to retail clinics to jump in 2007. For health plans currently partnered with clinics or those considering partnerships, it's important to know what early clinic users look like and why they turn to this form of healthcare service. This insight will help health plans currently involved with clinics in targeting their marketing messages to the appropriate clinic prospects and offers key knowledge to use in planning clinic partnerships.