The Growth Of Retail Clinics And The Medical Home: Two Trends In Concert Or In Conflict?
- 1Craig E. Pollack (cpollack{at}rand.org) is an assistant professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and a policy analyst at RAND in Arlington, Virginia.
- 2Courtney Gidengil is an instructor at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School and a policy analyst at RAND in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 3Ateev Mehrotra is an assistant professor in the School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, and a policy analyst at RAND in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- ↵*Corresponding author
Abstract
There has been growing interest in the patient-centered medical home as a way to provide coordinated, high-quality primary care. At the same time, the number of retail clinics has increased dramatically. Many are concerned that retail clinics undermine the medical home by fragmenting care. In this article we explore the juxtaposition of these trends, highlighting shared characteristics and sources of tension. We describe three types of relationships between retail clinics and primary care providers. We argue that for some relationships there is no conflict, and we describe areas of potential concern for others.
