For the ailing, a nurse practitioner’s in Aisle 2

Miniclinics set up in drugstores for medical one-stop shopping

By Peter Korn

The Portland Tribune, Nov 29, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The Portland health care landscape shifted just a little bit two weeks ago when Rite Aid introduced a new concept to the area Ñ nurse practitioners located inside 10 area Rite Aid drugstores.

The venture represents the logical next step in streamlining health care, and an interesting crossing of boundaries that may require providers to deal with a new set of ethical questions down the line.

Once upon a time doctors made house calls. Then visits to doctors became visits to nurse practitioners. Now consumers don’t even have to visit the doctor at all Ñ the nurse practitioner is waiting for them at Rite Aid, right next to the pharmacist’s counter.

Rite Aid is selling the idea of one-stop shopping, and the new setup promises savings of time and money. A visit for a simple ailment such as a skin rash or a child’s ear infection should cost between $30 and $45, significantly lower than what many physicians charge. Take Care Health Systems, the company that runs the Rite Aid clinics, will bill insurance companies and accept co-pays the same as any other clinic or physician.

People without health insurance may especially find the new centers useful, says Laurent Avondstondt, a nurse practitioner who works primarily in the Rite Aid store on Southwest Barnes Road. “If you don’t have insurance, most clinics won’t see you,” he says. “They have a bottom line, and they have to stay in business. There are extremely few clinics here in town that take people without insurance.”

Since nurse practitioners are qualified to prescribe medicine, the Take Care nurse practitioner can write the prescription and the Rite Aid pharmacist can fill it on the spot.

Here’s how the Rite Aid centers work: Customers register themselves at a computer terminal. A special program takes them through the process of filling in the online form, and if they’re having trouble a nearby telephone connects them directly to Take Care staff in Pennsylvania, who can electronically take over.

The computer program assesses symptoms and provides customers an estimate of how much their visit will cost as well as how long the customer can expect to wait.

The nurse practioner arrives from an exam room. Most exams will take 15 minutes.

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