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In-store clinic operator pulls out of Oregon market

Despite the outcome in Portland, experts predict today's 180 in-store clinics across the country will jump to 2,000 in 2009.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Oct. 23/30, 2006.

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Take Care Health Systems LLC, a major operator of in-store clinics, has exited the Oregon market after concluding it couldn't earn a profit there. But observers don't expect the news to cool off the red-hot growth of in-store clinics across the country.

On Sept. 28, the Conshohocken, Pa.-based company closed clinics it operated out of half-a-dozen Rite Aid drug stores in Portland, Ore.

"What we found after operating there for close to a year was that there wasn't as much of an access to [care] problem as in other markets," said Lauren Tierney, a spokeswoman for Take Care Health Systems. "In turn, there was a lack of patient demand, which made it unsustainable for the business model."

Along with Kansas City, Kan., Portland was one of two markets Take Care Health Systems selected in July 2005 to test the concept of using nurse practitioners to treat minor conditions on a walk-in basis at retail sites.

The concept has become one of the hottest trends in health care in the past year as retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Walgreen Co. and Target have increasingly leased space to clinics staffed by physician extenders. The stores have made the move to enhance customer service, and drive sales of prescriptions and nonprescription goods. Based on the expansion plans of major operators in the field, some experts estimate there will be 2,000 clinics in 2009, up from about 180 as of early October.

Rite Aid continues to be committed to the in-store clinic concept. The Camp Hill, Pa., company, which recently announced it will open nine clinics in California, plans to partner with another company to reopen clinics in Oregon.