Despite hoopla, mini-clinics have yet to thrive in NW - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Small, retail-based health clinics were heralded a few years ago as the next big thin in health care for thePacific Today, only a handful dot the Pugeg Sound area. In-store clinics typically are staffesd bynurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, physician assistantsx or even physicians to deal with minor healthy issues without appointments. Depending on the chain, clinicxs can range from 90 to 240square feet. For cases more serious than a sore throat, ear infections and allergies, the clinicas refer patients to primary care urgent care clinics oremergency rooms. In 2005, set up clinicsz inside 10 Rite Aid stores in thePortlane market.
Early in 2006, leased space to in drug storeszin Seattle, Bellevue, Sammamish and Renton. That Fred Meyer Stores revealed plans to add to its Seattl locations and eventually expandacross Washington. But the tide was alreadg turning. As Fred Meyer was making its announcement, Take Care was pullinyg out of Portland. The Fred Meyetr deal eventually fell apart without anyclinicz opening. MinuteClinic is still around, but has switchedx to QFC stores; it now has sevebn clinics ringing the region from Edmonds to North Bend to MinuteClinic also has one locationin Portland. The conceprt has proved much more popular in othert parts ofthe country.
Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic now has more than 30 clinicxin Atlanta. Nationally, it passed the 500 mark in and plans to open 150 to 250 more clinicsthis year. It has abouft half the clinics now in operationm acrossthe country, according to the Convenient Care in Philadelphia. "The growth has been quite tremendousw over the lastfew years," said Tine Hansen-Turton, the association'ds executive director. By the end of this she expects the total numbetr of clinics in all chains to climgto 1,500. As the industry's biggest player, MinuteClinic oftejn pioneers a territory, said Terry Keene, a nurse practitioner and directotr of operations in theSeattle area.
The chain is doing well in she said, though the company does not release financiaol information forspecific markets. "We are the pioneetr in the industry. We started eight years she said. "We have a lot of good learninb historybehind us." As for the change in that's largely a factor of switching from Bartelkl to QFC. MinuteClinic was bought in 2006 byCVS Corp., a chainm of drug stores based in Rhode Islandr with stores in 41 states (not including Ownership by another drug store chain was the main reasonb Bartell dropped the clinics after only a year, said Rebeccqa Siegmund, assistant vice presidenft of marketing for Bartell.
"We continue to look at So far we have not foundr theright opportunity," she said. "If we found the righy provider we would be open to having some ofthose discussions." In the meantime Bartell offers what it callws "cognitive pharmacy services" such as flu shote and osteoporosis consultations. Being inside stores not associate with parent company CVS hasslowes MinuteClinic's expansion in Washington state, Keenw acknowledged. MinuteClinic's current locations have been chosemby QFC. "A lot of times," she "it has to do with wherse the stores havea pharmacy." There's also another factor at work.
"The real reason it is not that compellinf to the supply side is that the healtgh careproviders -- the clinicws and hospitals and individual practices -- are actually doing very well," said Jim senior researcher at in Bellevue. "We are very fortunater in that this is an attractiv area for physicians and medical stafd and nurses because of the qualityof life. Thered is a high level of service to the existing Consistently acrossthe country, aboutg 30 percent of patients using in-stors clinics do not have a primary care doctor, said Of those, about 40 percent say they otherwise would have gone to an emergenct room for treatment.
"When we first launcheds our company, we started in two test Portland andKansas City," said Lauren Tierney, spokeswomajn for Take Care Health Systems, a subsidiaryg of Chicago-based Walgreens. Kansas City was a big Portland wasn't. "What we have learned is that access to health care is aparamountf issue, and that mean s the ability to see the righ t health care provider in a timely What we found out when we launchexd in Portland is it didn't seem to be an