Retail Healthcare News

Scott, in town this week to talk at a Palm Beach Atlantic University lecture series, says he has plans to open five urgent care centers in Palm Beach County in the next three years. The centers aim to provide care to people who don’t have a regular physician ( or need one after hours) and don’t want the expense of time and money of going to a hospital emergency room. A number of urgent care centers have opened in the county and nationwide to meet needs of uninsured and people who can’t get into see their doctor when they need to.

Unlike some retail health clinics that are staffed by nurse practitioners, Solantic has physicians at all of its urgent care centers. Services generally cost $59 to $169.

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Millions of Americans got flu shots in the Fall of 2007, hoping to ward off the worst of the season. About four out of 10 could be very disappointed when they get sick anyway.

According the the CDC in Atlanta, the virus that is most prevalent across the nation is not covered by this year’s flu shot.

“Right now, about half of the influenza ‘A’ which is the H3N1 virus, and most of influenza ‘B’ are not covered well by this year’s flu vaccine,” said Dr. Nathan Newman, Medical Director of Solantic.

Doctor Newman is hopeful we’ll have a flu season like 2003, the last time flu shots missed the virus mark.

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I’m of two minds about Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) impending move into health care. The retailer announced plans last week to open co-branded health clinics in its Supercenter stores, starting this April. Is this a great new growth strategy that will propel the company to finally fulfill its true potential? Or is it just another me-too reaction to competitive pressure from the likes of CVS (NYSE: CVS) and Walgreen (NYSE: WAG)?

Patient history

Utilizing third-party partners has helped Wal-Mart move into new business segments in the past. Its jewelry and shoe departments were originally leased operations, with Wal-Mart simply collecting rent for the use of space in stores. Eventually, as the company figured out how to run these businesses, Wal-Mart phased out these partners and took over. Read the rest of this entry »