Liz Kowalczyk writes in the Boston Globe about plans by the CVS pharmacy chain to open storefront medical clinics to provide certain primary care services to the public. Walmart and others have done the same.
We can expect that there will objections to this from people representing established health care practices or institutions. You can be sure that those objections will often be phrased in terms of protecting the public from substandard or uncoordinated care. That is always the first refuge of people concerned about protecting market share for established players. I have seen it before in many industries.
I think this kind of objection also stems from a belief that primary care must be provided by doctors. Yet, physician assistants and nurses can provide excellent and appropriate care for many issues. Their doing so may actually free up time for primary care doctors, who are in short supply, to handle more complicated cases.
Rather than objecting to this convenient approach to providing care, established providers should open their arms and do their best to make it easier to coordinate with CVS and others.
