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AAP: Retail-based clinics inappropriate source of patient care
The AAP recently updated its 2006 policy statement on principles concerning retail-based clinics and reaffirmed its opposition to this form of pediatric patient care.
The statement, drafted by the AAP Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine, makes clear that the AAP considers retail-based clinics detrimental to the medical home concept of longitudinal and coordinated care, and that they also fragment medical care.
The statement also said the AAP is opposed to the offering of lower co-pays or financial incentives for receiving care at retail-based clinics instead of with a pediatrician or primary care physician.
“Furthermore, the AAP strongly believes that the medical homes in the optimal standard of care and that [retail-based clinics] do not satisfy that definition,” the committee members wrote. “Payment for care received within the medical home must be continually evaluated to ensure that pediatricians and other primary care physicians receive adequate compensation for the continuous, coordinated, and comprehensive health care that they provide.”
However, the AAP recommends that if the pediatric medical home uses the services of a retail-based clinic, there should be a formal collaborative relationship between the two.
“The AAP continues to oppose [retail-base clinics] as a source of primary care for pediatric patients,” they wrote. “As the [retail-based clinic] model continues to evolve, traditional [retail-based clinics], health systems, and insurance companies alike must recognize the critical role of the medical home in providing optimal health care for children. The AAP, its members, and the pediatric medical home should be the required partner for all [retail-based clinics] that provide treatment of pediatric patients, with the pediatric medical home as the model of pediatric care.”
Disclosure: The committee members report no relevant financial disclosures.
