Shop Till You Stop for a Health-Care Checkup
By Phil Galewitz, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.
May 12–Carri Salerno couldn’t hear because she had water clogged in her ear canal.
Did she call her doctor? Or go to the local hospital emergency room?
Neither.
She went to the Mall at Wellington Green.
The Wellington woman found help just outside Nordstrom’s at PDQ Care, a health clinic staffed by nurse practitioners and pharmacists.
“This is fabulous,” Salerno, 45, said after a nurse took care of the problem in less than 15 minutes. “I was in a hurry, and this was easier than going to my doctor.” Health clinics in retail settings have become a hot trend in the past two years as consumers look for easier and cheaper access to care and retailers look for new ways to attract shoppers.
Publix, Walgreens, CVS and Wal-Mart are among the national retailers that have opened health clinics in the area in the past year.
PDQ, which stands for “Patients Deserve Quality Care,” is trying a new tack by opening a clinic in a shopping mall.
“We wanted to locate our clinic where people shop in order to provide quick care in a location that they have a comfort level with,” said Reid Becker, chief executive officer. He plans to open clinics in other malls but has no other confirmed sites.
PDQ services start at $58.95 for a typical visit to the nurse practitioner. The clinic plans to take health insurance but doesn’t yet.
The Wellington Green clinic, which opened last month, includes a pharmacy, two exam rooms and a lab where nurses can draw blood and do simple lab tests. Customers sign in on computer terminals at the front of the store.
PDQ is a franchisee of Health Mart, which is owned by San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK), the large pharmacy distribution company.
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MCK,