Retail Health Clinic Operations

Retail Council position

Support the growth and development of health care facilities within retail settings as they gain popularity with patients and help decrease costs of basic services across the health care landscape.  Oppose regulations and legislation that would hinder retail clinic operations - including limitations on the scope of practice and marketing efforts, as well as burdensome and unnecessary licensure requirements.

Legislative action

There has been no legislation introduced, to date, that would limit a retailer’s ability to operate a health care clinic within their store.  New York, however, has a 100-year-old prohibition on the corporate practice of medical professionals, pursuant to section 201-e of the Business Corporation law.  Business corporations operating in the state may not employ licensed professionals, forcing all retail clinics in New York to be owned and operated by an entity separate from the retail corporation itself.

At a glance

• Access to affordable health insurance remains a paramount issue as health care costs and the number of uninsured continue to rise.  Retail clinics offer a unique and critical opportunity to help offset this national crisis - convenience, quality care, and affordability are all tenets that retail clinic patients rely on.
• Nurse practitioners (NP’s) who provide care to retail clinic patients are already subject to vigorous and intense training and licensure requirements administered by New York’s Department of Education, eliminating the need for further regulations and mandates on their practice of medicine as it relates to retail clinics.  Physicians, too, provide various levels of oversight to NP’s who are employed by retail clinics and are fully aware of any scope of practice limitations that apply.
• Affordability and pricing transparency are key elements to the retail clinic business model and offer a new approach to how patients view their health care experience.  All services and their respective prices are disclosed conspicuously in each clinic and, on average, range from 50 to 70 dollars.  These price points are a small fraction of what a patient would pay in comparison to an emergency room or doctor’s office visit.
• Evidence-based medicine is the foundation to which health care providers treat retail clinic patients.  Prescriptions are provided on a limited basis, when absolutely necessary, and, similar to a doctor’s office visit, patients are transferred to nearby hospitals if their condition is outside the scope of practice for the physician or nurse practitioner on call.