Retail Well being Clinics Fail to Curb Routine ER Visits, Examine Finds
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MONDAY, Nov. 21, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- Having retail well being clinics close to hospitals doesn't cut back emergency division visits for minor well being issues, a brand new research finds.
It was hoped that decrease prices and elevated comfort of clinics in drug shops or retail chains would curb emergency division visits, however these findings add to rising proof that this isn't the case, in line with RAND Corp. researchers.
The investigators examined 5 years of knowledge from greater than 2,000 emergency departments in 23 states and located that the opening of retail medical clinics didn't cut back emergency division visits for 11 non-urgent illnesses, reminiscent of respiratory infections and earaches.
"One hope for retail clinics was that they may divert sufferers from making costly visits to the emergency division for minor situations reminiscent of bronchitis or urinary tract infections. However we discovered no proof that this has been occurring," lead writer Grant Martsolf stated in a RAND information launch. Martsolf is a coverage researcher with RAND, a nonprofit analysis group.
"As an alternative of reducing prices, retail clinics could also be substituting for care in different settings, reminiscent of main care practices, or spur some sufferers to hunt take care of issues they beforehand would have handled on their very own," he added.
Examine co-author Dr. Ateev Mehrotra is an affiliate professor of well being care coverage and medication at Harvard Medical Faculty in Boston and an adjunct researcher at RAND. He predicted that retail clinics might play an even bigger function as extra folks change into insured underneath the Inexpensive Care Act and the demand for care grows.
The research was printed on-line not too long ago within the journal Annals of Emergency Medication.
-- Robert Preidt
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SOURCE: RAND Corp., information launch, Nov. 10, 2016
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