In-store (retail) clinic growth slowing

[flashl]

Financial backers pull plug on some

Chicago Tribune

The sputtering economy and impatient private investment firms could be slowing the push into retail medicine, a consulting firm finds.

The number of retail clinics fell by 12 last month, to 969 from 981, according to the latest monthly tally by Merchant Medicine, a Minneapolis-based research and consulting firm that advises medical-care providers and employers on how to work within the retail clinic industry.

"It was the first month we saw a net drop," said Tom Charland, chief executive at Merchant Medicine, which has been tracking the growth of retail clinics for two years.

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In recent years, hundreds of retail clinics have opened across the country. Typically staffed by advanced-degree nurses known as practitioners, the clinics are open seven days a week, with no appointment needed. The clinics treat patients who have routine maladies, such as ear and sinus infections, strep throat and pink eye.