AMA Goes After Drugstore Clinics
By Lindsey Tanner Associated Press
CHICAGO – The American Medical Association wants authorities to investigate whether quickie retail-based health clinics run by pharmacy chains pose conflicts of interest that put profits ahead of patient health.
The nation’s largest physicians’ group on Monday adopted a resolution vowing to seek an investigation after several AMA doctors complained that the clinics interfere with the traditional practice of medicine.
The AMA wants federal and state agencies to look into whether pharmacy chain-owned clinics located in the stores urge patients to get their prescriptions filled on site, which the AMA says would pose a conflict. It also said insurance companies should be banned from waiving or lowering co-payments only for patients who get treatment at store-based clinics.
Michael Polzin, a spokesman for Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co., which operates 63 clinics in its stores in six states, said customers aren’t steered to Walgreen pharmacies, and are allowed to get prescriptions filled wherever they choose.
He said any investigation would find no problems. Walgreen expects to have 400 clinics by the end of 2008, he said.
The measures adopted at the group’s annual policy meeting rejected some physicians’ requests that the AMA oppose the clinics outright.
“If we believe in consumer-driven medicine, if we believe that it is the responsibility of medicine to respond to the needs of our patients and if there is a strong consumer demand, then we in fact are going to have to compete in this arena,” said Dr. Peter Carmel, an AMA board member.
Nationally, there are about 500 retail-based health clinics, said Michael Howe, CEO of MinuteClinic, a Minneapolis-based chain of about 200 clinics in 20 states. It was acquired by CVS Corp. last year.
The clinics typically offer same-day appointments and evening and weekend hours for routine health problems, such as sore throats and ear infections. They are generally staffed by nurse-practitioners or physician assistants, and often cost less than traditional doctors’ visits.
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