New retail health clinic model puts doctors out front

Some companies are betting they can stand out from the in-store clinic market by having physicians on hand to treat patients.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews staff. Oct. 8, 2007.

While retail-based health clinics generally rely on nurse practitioners and physician assistants to see patients, another model is emerging that staffs entirely with physicians.

Despite the increase in overhead, that new model works, say clinic operators, because of its expanded scope and greater marketing potential. And some big names and deep pockets are jumping behind the concept.

One of the model's early adopters is Jacksonville, Fla.-based Solantic, which recently expanded its stand-alone clinic chain to include clinics located inside Wal-Mart stores.

Solantic's chief medical officer, Nathan Newman, MD, said because physicians are present, Solantic can offer x-ray services and suturing. It's also a good marketing strategy to say each patient will be treated by a board-certified physician, he said.

Solantic is also gaining attention because of one of the names behind it. Richard Scott, who founded Solantic in 2002, gained notoriety for taking two struggling Texas hospitals and creating, through mergers and acquisitions, the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., which became the largest for-profit hospital chain in the world.

However, a massive Medicare fraud investigation cost Scott his job as Columbia/HCA's CEO and president. Scott was never charged with wrongdoing, though other executives were, and HCA -- which dropped the Columbia name -- agreed to pay $1.7 billion in civil penalties and damages to settle the case, without admitting wrongdoing. In 2003, upon the finalization of the settlement, the Justice Dept. called it the largest Medicare fraud settlement ever.