The NewYorkTimes.com writes that the number of health clinics located inside retail stores “jumped 11.2 percent to 1,355 in 2011 after slow growth in 2010 and 2009, according to a report by Thomas Charland, chief executive of Merchant Medicine, which tracks the growth of retail medical care services.”
This is a marked change from 2010, when the number grew just three percent, and 2009, when the number was stagnant.
According to the story, “New entrants from the supermarket industry like Safeway are starting to expand rapidly. Walmart is also hoping to become a serious player in the clinic business, seeking proposals from established medical care companies instead of the start-ups it tried working with a few years ago.” And, the story notes, CVS already has committed to increasing its current fleet of 650 Minute Clinics by 100 a year through 2015.
This is a marked change from 2010, when the number grew just three percent, and 2009, when the number was stagnant.
According to the story, “New entrants from the supermarket industry like Safeway are starting to expand rapidly. Walmart is also hoping to become a serious player in the clinic business, seeking proposals from established medical care companies instead of the start-ups it tried working with a few years ago.” And, the story notes, CVS already has committed to increasing its current fleet of 650 Minute Clinics by 100 a year through 2015.
- KC's View:
- Perhaps the concept of instore health clinics is crossing over from being a fad to a legitimate, long-term strategic approach for companies that want to be a resource for shoppers, not just a source of product.
