The Boston Globe's website noted today that CVS and other pharmacies have begun to comply with a new city regulation banning the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies. The regulation took effect today. It's of interest to us, because of legislation the MMS proposed last week that would ban tobacco sales in any health care [...]

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The Worcester District Medical Society's member forum on retail-based health clinics outlined the clinics' potential impact on physicians and some strategies that physicians can use to respond to their entrance in Massachusetts. William Ryder, regulatory and legislative counsel for the MMS, summarized the two-year struggle by a coalition of concerned providers to ensure that retail [...]

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This begins to validate our position that the breathless advocates of retail clinics have oversold their benefits, particularly with regard to saving costs. If we’re looking to save costs, we have to look elsewhere. Saving a dollar or two treating a sore throat isn’t going to get the job done. Read the Wall Street Journal [...]

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It’s time for us to close the loop on this chapter of MinuteClinics. Careful readers of the MMS’ materials over the last seven months know that we had many concerns over how CVS planned to roll out these facilities. We stated clearly that if CVS wanted to call them clinics, they should act like clinics, [...]

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After nearly 90 minutes of discussion on a wide range of issues, the state Public Health Council today tabled a vote on new proposed regulations governing "limited service clinics" in drug stores and other retail establishments. The Council will now vote at its January meeting at the earliest, after amendments have been added to the [...]

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A new study in Annals of Family Medicine suggests that patients may not necessarily be satisfied with the care they would get at walk-in clinics. The study, conducted on Ontario, Canada, measured the satisfaction levels of patients who received care at their family physician, their physician’s after-hours clinic, emergency departments, telephone advisory services, and walk-in [...]

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By Bruce Auerbach, MD The debate over retail health clinics in the Commonwealth is a healthy one. From the outset, when MinuteClinics filed its application to set up shop in Weymouth, to last month, when the Department of Public Health correctly recognized that the best way to evaluate this new approach to healthcare was to [...]

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The state Public Health Council yesterday released a complex proposal to regulate the operation of "limited services clinics." CVS hopes to open the first of these clinics in Massachusetts under its MInute Clinics brand. We are still looking carefully at the proposal, and it’s too early to share our specific comments. The hearing is Sept. [...]

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Bruce A. Auerbach, M.D., president-elect of the Massachusetts Medical Society, delivered these remarks today (July 25) at a public meeting of the Board of Registration in Medicine on the application of Minute Clinics to open a limited health clinic at a CVS store in Weymouth: The Medical Society and the physicians of Massachusetts welcome innovations [...]

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CVS has announced plans to open 20 to 30 "mini clinics" throughout the state. At first glance, these “mini-clinics” may seem like a good idea: convenience, extended hours, multiple locations, no long lines in emergency departments, no long waits for appointments with primary care physicians. Not so fast. Concern #1: Safety. We’re worried that medical [...]

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