Walk-in Clinics

Walk-in clinics are medical facilities located within pharmacies, grocery stores and retailers. They offer primary care services at an affordable cost with very minimal wait time. They differ from urgent clinics in the sense that they offer treatment for only non life thretening and every day primary care services and  they are often managed by nurse practitioners rather than primary care doctors.

So why walk-in clinics? You don’t need an appointment to walk into these clinics where as getting an appointment with primary care physician may take days. What more, these clinics may operate in weekends as well taking some pressure of your emergency care needs. The costs are not just affordable they are most often covered by your health insurance plan. Most of the time they have published costs for the services that they offer leaving little room for any surprises.

Another reason for surge in popularity of the walk-in clinics is the way insurance industry is evolving. The proliferation of high deductible health plans which require patients to often pay thousands of dollars out of pocket before insurance kicks in, can make even a routine doctor’s visit cost prohibitive.

The most common services offered by the Walk-in clinics include assisting with minor injuries and illnesses like treating for flu and cold symptoms, strep throat, travel checkups and minor cuts and skin conditions. They also offer other primary care services like immunizations, annual physicals and health screenings.

One common criticism of Walk-in clinics is lack of continuous relation between the patient and the care provider which is typically the case with Primary care physicians who maintain patient’s health records which play important role in proper diagnosis of patient health conditions. Also, walk-in clinks have no obligation to transfer medical records to physicians which may cause break in communication.  It is recommended for patients to be proactive in gathering all details of the visit which will help in such scenarios.

“Primary Care” iOS and Android app offered by Cluvd provides the details of nearby walk-in clinics in retailer stores also known as “retail clinics”. The details include services offered along with listed prices for these services. The app covers the clinics in retail stores such as Walgreens, CVS, WalMart, Target, Kroger, H.E.B and Rite Aid.

   

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How much is too much

Coke has recently announced that it is funding a nonprofit organization that downplays role of bad diet on obesity. Coke’s main intention may be to shift the blame away from sugary soda drinks as a cause of obesity but there is definitely some merit to this argument.

There are diverse opinions on impact of various types of foods on health. But truth is people hear what they want to hear. In fact whatever is the nature of the diet, if we control ourselves and regulate our diet nothing is really harmful. After all an occasional glass of Coke really wont have such a bad effect on a person’s health.

For instance coffee has long been blamed for many ill effects like stunting growth, causes heart disease and cancer etc. But recent research indicates that coffee may not be so bad after all. Recent studies highlight the health benefits of coffee, including protection from Parkinson’s disease, Diabetes (Type 2), liver disease, prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s, back pain and more. This is definitely music to the ears of Coffee lovers which serves as an incentive to drink more coffee. But the key hear is moderate consumption and not to get addictive which definitely will have bad effects on the health.

Historically we believe spicy food is bad for health as it may cause stomach issues, ulcers, damage liver and kidneys.  But a recent study finds that spicy food may have all kinds of health benefits ranging from boosting metabolism and preventing gastric damage to reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer. All of a sudden hot chicken wings or Salsa looks like agents of healthy diet. But again the key is to eat in moderation and gradually build tolerance for such food. Otherwise they may have the similar ill effects on the health as they are historically known for.

The Global Energy Balance Network which is allegedly supported by Coke with finances pushes the idea that Americans are too focused on what they eat and not focused enough on exercise. We can take a positive message from this. Exercise is a must for a healthy life. In addition we highly recommend eating healthy like fruits and vegetables. Also one should eat less and eat often like eating every few hours and drink lots of water. There is no real need to follow a diet as long as we show discipline in our food habits.

   

HSA and Primary Care Costs

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Of late high-deductible plans with lower premiums than other forms of insurance have grown in popularity. They provide health savings account (HSA) option with tax deferred contributions. The employees participating in these plans may optionally receive account contributions from their employers.

Sounds great. They offer considerable savings compared to other forms of insurance if either we need to see the doctors very rarely or have a major surgery or an upcoming baby delivery. But how about if we need to see doctor decent number of times of the year that may cost most of the deductible if not all?

It is highly probable that such visits are to a primary care doctor for typical fever, flu, travel related, EKG test, prescriptions etc which costs decent deductible. If we sum up costs from all these visits at the end of the year we may possibly might have spent more than a traditional PPO plan where we are only responsible for small co pays for each visit.

So knowing what our primary care costs is very important to minimize the deductibles. Most of the insurances offer portals to check the in-network doctors and how much they charge based on the medical condition. Patients are advised to review this information before they schedule a visit. Also there are independent websites that offer such information independent of these Insurance companies.

Cluvd offers “Primary Care” iOS and Android APP that provides the doctor costs and also provide comparative costs from nearby walk-in clinics in retailer stores. Users can submit the costs they incurred based on EOB they received from the Insurance provider to help other users looking for the same medical services.