The assumption that in-store medical clinics would work best in areas where consumers were lacking both financial resources and health insurance is being seriously challenged by the experience of RediClinic.
According to a report on the Forbes website, RediClinic, has opened 32 clinics in middle-class neighborhoods and found that the convenience factor is one of its biggest selling points. Consumers, with both money and health insurance, find they can pop into a clinic to have minor health issues addressed instead of waiting days or perhaps longer to see a doctor in a scheduled office visit.
Webster Golinkin, the chief executive of RediClinic, told Forbes, "The current health care system is designed to treat a small number of complex cases. We are in the business of treating a large number of simple cases."
The success that RediClinic has found in middle-class areas is a decidedly different path than first plotted by the company. Back in 2005, when it first set up clinics, RediClinic focused on low-income areas. Mr. Golinkin and company soon discovered, however, that even with lower prices than those charged by doctors, it was not attracting enough patients to make money. The company eventually shut down clinics in stores in poor neighborhoods as a result.
To be successful, RediClinic could not count on regular patient walk-ins and so the company began marketing itself to businesses and health insurance providers.
One company that RediClinic has worked with is Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits. Deborah Elkins, benefits manager at Popeyes, told Forbes it costs nearly twice as much for the company to send one of its employees to a doctor than to a RediClinic.
Health insurance companies are also slowly coming around to the idea of working with in-store clinics. In RediClinic's case, the company offered free cholesterol tests as part of its deal with Aetna.
Discussion Questions: Where do you see the future of in-store clinics? Does the RediClinic experience suggest that these types of operations won't be able to make it in poorer areas? Do you see convenience being more important than price in positioning in-store clinics to consumers?