Mini clinics, a way to save money and time?

Oct/10/2007 11:49 Filed in: Pharma Business
minimart
Imagine this for a second, you have had a sore throat for a couple of days and can feel the onset of the flu. You call your doctor but the soonest he, or she, can get you in is next week sometime and you don't want that long because you know from DTC ads that you need to take Tamiflu at the first symptoms of the flu. You head down to your local Walgreen's and inside you see a small clinic staffed by a nurse. You fill out some short forms go into to see her and after a few questions you walk out with an Rx for Tamiflu. Think this can't happen? Think again because it is going to happen the questions is...how soon.



Time. It's the new currency in an information based economy. Who has the time to take a half day off from work to go see their doctor for what we feel are minor problems. Problems like refills on allergy and ED medications may get put off because we just don't have the time to call the doctor and make an appointment. From the health care providers standpoint do they really need to reimburse physicians $60 for a 10 minute visit to ask for a refill on Zyrtec?


Here is California where I live there are a number of "doctors on call" in & out offices. No appointment needed, walk in anytime 8-6 and see a doctor to ask for a prescription. The doctors I see write whatever I ask for and it usually takes less than a half-hour and I'm out the door with a new Rx.


The chain drugstores would love to add a small clinic in their stores. It could be another profit center for them and if medications start to go OTC-behind the counter these clinics could become a huge business for them. Health insurance companies would love to take some drugs off their formularies is they move to OTC-behind the counter. Statins, allergy and ED meds are just a few of the categories that could see some big increases in sales dollars as they move from Rx to OTC behind the counter. In England the local pharmacist has become sort of the "corner doctor" as more and more medications move to OTC behind the counter.


The reality is that our healthcare system is overburdened right now and on the road to financial ruin. Moving products OTC behind the counter would accomplish two things; first, it would make medications readily available to people who don't have the time to visit doctors offices. Second, it could lead to a whirlwind in sales as people go and ask for these products. Can you imagine what will happen when and if Viagra goes OTC behind the counter? Of course the FDA will need to weigh in on this issue..will DTC for OTC BTC products still need fair balance? Government agencies tend to move slower than a snail so I would not expect action from them very soon but be sure that pricing pressures may force them to act sooner then they would like.
|