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Shopping for a Check-Up? PDQ Care Opens Nation's First Walk-in Clinic and Pharmacy in a Mall

Posted on: Monday, 28 April 2008, 06:00 CDT

PDQ Care, Inc., www.pdqcare.com, has introduced what is believed to be the nation's first combination Walk-In Clinic and Pharmacy at a regional shopping mall with the recent opening at The Mall at Wellington Green.

As one of the fastest growing trends in the nation's healthcare system, Walk-in Clinics, which currently number in excess of 900 locations nationally (compared to just 126 locations at the start of 2006), are expected to briskly grow in numbers over the course of the next several years. Florida recently became the first state to reach 100 retail clinics. Overall, industry consultants predict the number of Walk-in Clinics nationally will soar to 3,000 within the next five years.

The low-cost, non-emergency healthcare clinics, typically located in drug, grocery or retail stores, are open seven days a week with no appointment necessary. Nurse practitioners -- nurses with advanced degrees who can write prescriptions -- staff most clinics.

For South Florida partners Reid Becker and Gerson "Gus" Greenbarg, opening combination clinics and pharmacies in established, highly-trafficked malls was a yet unexplored niche in an industry where larger retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens and CVS/Caremark are moving ahead with plans to open in-store clinics around the country.

With their own ambitious plans, Becker and Greenbarg intend to use The Mall at Wellington Green prototype to launch a series of PDQ Care (Patients Deserve Quality Care™) locations throughout the region's burgeoning shopping malls. The plan is to open another 40 to 50 combination Walk-in Clinics and Pharmacies in Florida within the next three years with an eventual expansion to 400 locations nationally.

"We wanted to locate our clinic where people shop in order to provide quick and easy care in a location they frequent and have a comfort level with," said Becker, formerly an executive with Miami-based Cordis Corporation and President and CEO with South Florida-based Medical Testing Associates, Inc. "Not only do we have a built-in customer base with an estimated 3,000 employees at the mall and surrounding businesses, but daily foot traffic in malls is significantly higher than our retail competitors by 2 to 11 times."

Driving the demand for Walk-in Clinics, according to Greenbarg, a pharmacist and founder of Miami-based FLA Orthopedics Inc., are consumers who find they are having to pay more for basic health care.

Open seven days a week during regular mall hours, an office visit at PDQ Care, according to Greenbarg, can cost as an individual as little as $58.95 or an insurance co-pay.

"Compare this amount to an average $120 at a physician's office or $330 at an emergency room, plus the convenience of no-wait, no-appointments," said Greenbarg. "Walk-in Clinics are becoming highly attractive service-on-demand alternatives to treating basic ailments, laboratory testing, vaccinations and health screenings."

PDQ Care, staffed by board-certified nurse practitioners (under the direction of local, licensed medical doctors), also offers a wide variety of preventative care and wellness services as well as medication therapy management and a unique PHR-To-Go® personal health record service, according to Becker.

Becker said most treatments take less than 15 minutes, and in the event there is a wait, mall shoppers will receive a beeper to notify them when the nurse practitioner is free.

For more information on PDQ Care, call 561-793-1336 or visit www.pdqcare.com.

Source: Business Wire

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