Mayor Menino blasts approval of in-store clinics

"Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong."

Um, but it's okay for hospitals???

Also, don't those same retailers 'make money off of sick people' when they sell them prescriptions or OTC medicines?

I am sure that Mayor Menino can get immediate medical attention whenever he needs it. He needs to realize that not everyone is so fortunate.

Is there a bigger embawassment fa tha cy of Bosn than Maya Menino? What a moron. "Making money off sick people" is what hospitals, doctors, nurses, medical centers, drug companies, and medical supply companies do. And thank goodness!! Friggin' half-wit.

I think for a simple cold or allergy problem it would be fine.

According to the City of Boston's website, the largest industry sector in the City is the Health Care, Hospitals & Other accounting for 54,797 employees or 41.6% of all Boston's jobs. So the Mayor is just looking out for votes and his big $ supporters...oops I mean for access to safe and affordable healthcare for everyone. His stance is beyond cynical. And his quote about compromising hygeine? Does he know what the bacterial count is like at you typical big hospital?

Where does it end with Menino?

This clown wants to set up a gambling hole in Boston, hijack City Hall to Southie, and take away blood pressure checks from some guy in the ghetto who can't buy top of the line private a-la-carte medical services?

Why doesn't he worry about getting the firemen off crack and getting a few of the guns out of the schools instead?

How do you spell C-R-O-N-Y-I-S-M??

long over due , mayor menino is so far behind the times its not funny .

Menino needs to stick to issues that are not above a fifth grader. After hours, the alternative is a 6 hour wait and a $500 visit to the ER??

When was the last time our mayor had to wait a number of hours in order to be diagnosed for a simple ailment, if he was even lucky enough to get an appointment. I have fantastic health insurance and it's still only as good as the doctor willing to see me (and all too often he seems to be working on his golf game). If I want to pay for convenience why shouldn't I be able to?!

YEAH!!! Affordable and simple medical care!!! Instead of waiting two months and paying $185 to see my dermatologist (cash only, thank you!), I can now get a refill on my prescription shampoo. Apparently, Menino is pro-dandruff!

Its OK for sick people to go to the emergency, wait 12 hours and perhaps cause a delay for a critically ill person. Where was the Mayor's solution, all this time?

Years ago there used to be affordable walk in clinics in retail areas. Now there is nothing for the uninsured except the emergency room which has clogged them terribly. If CVS is willing to use there own overhead to support walk-in clinics then why not?

I think it is obvious that Menino is in the hip pocket of the employee unions of Hospital employees in the city

Just the next step in the stratification of healthcare. Illegals working under the table (who therefore don't care about tax breaks), mentally ill folks who are scared to have their names "on a list," non-English speakers who don't understand the system, and people who either can't get a ride to their sanctioned healthcare facility or can't wait until there's an opening can at least get their toothaches and broken fingers seen to, and get directed towards resources that they might not have known were available if their problems are more than a McClinic can handle. We're talking the poorest of the poor here, whose living conditions often favor contagion. Better that they have someplace that they know they can go.

It's fine for basic stuff as long as they are willing to refer patients who need it for more serious things. It may even help some people who are unaware they have a serious issue .

This guy just gets dumber and dumber... CVS has piloted these programs and they work. They work well. He quotes no research, he quotes no statistics to prove otherwise. He is a union mouthpiece and a real idiot.

"Mumbles" Menino opened his mouth again. Why Bostonian's keep voting that moron into office is beyond my comprehension.

"Mumbles" Menino opened his mouth again. Why Bostonian's keep voting that moron into office is beyond my comprehension. i love this comment!!! i almost fell down on the floor bec i laughed tooo hard.. very true..very sad about no
wonder people laughed on city of boston and woes.. even whole nation make jokes about city of Boston and Mumbles Menino !!!

Who will write the prescriptions for the sick people showing up at CVS stores?
I can see testing for Strep throat or a urine test to rule a UTI, but where will they draw the line? If it's an infected cut, who will do follow up? How do you ensure the patient will come back? What type of insurance will the CVS person have?

It amazes me that this Bozo keeps getting elected.Has he no shame?To make it easier for people having less than serious medical problems to be treated in a timely manner has got to be a plus.Wake up Mr.Mayor!!!

This is done all over Europe and it works great. I don't see where the problem is, Mayor.

I heard CVS will specialize in swollentongueitis, something with which His Honah is obviously suffering.

If most of you examine the facts, Hospitals make very little money, and most are struggling to stay in the green. Doctors "real" salaries have dropped substantially over the past 20 years. If you want to know who profits off your health care dollars look at the pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

We need to stop taking the "Wal-Mart" approach to medical care which is "cheaper and faster is better." As a soon to be MD (in less than 4 months) when my sick one or loved one is sick I want them to see a physician in a hospital setting with all the resources to care for them. It's amazing how that simple rash could turn out to be life threating Toxic Epidermal Necrolisis (and is CVS prepared to handle this).

So let me get this straight....if my kid gets an earache over the weekend - I should spend 5 hours and several hundred $ in the emergency room - rather than $59 and 20 minutes at the minute clinic.???..does this guy think at all before opening his mouth?

So much of the focus of the "health care crisis" in America is on the number of uninsured....equally important, but often overlooked is the shortage/lack of access to health care providers (can anyone out there get an appt with their primary care doctor without a 3 month wait anymore?).

You've got to be kidding me, right? A place where people can get some basic help that's convenient and affordable -- and that's covered by insurance -- and Menino's against it.

When is he up for reelection?

My last visit to an er for an earache lasted no more than 45 minutes (once I was finally seen) and the bills are still coming. If your health insurance card says your deductible for an er visit is $100 like mine does forget it. There are other deductibles you have to meet first. Then a new deductible year begins. What a joke. I pay over $5500 a year in premiums for nothing. Insurance companies have been allowed to add so many deductibles and non covered items that insurance today is not for everyday illnesses. By the time they pay a dime for anything the illness would be classified as catastrophic.
If CVS lowers these outrageous costs by providing affordable competition and quality care then by all means go for it.

"It's amazing how that simple rash could turn out to be life threating Toxic Epidermal Necrolisis (and is CVS prepared to handle this)."

That's right, Todd; when you can't argue facts just try to scare people. Let me tell you something, more people have died trying to get good care in a hospital than will ever have a negative outcome seeking basic care at a mini-clinic.

You sound like a doctor or doctor in training. There are hundeds of these things operating safely and well all over the country, and you know what?

People who use them like them.

Medical costs topped $2.000,000,000

It is BIG BUSINESS and this may help with noncence visits to Emergency rooms

What a hypocrite. Boston has gone down the tubes during his tenure, and whenever someone tries to do something positive for its citizens this moron always finds an excuse to oppose it. Why doesn't this idiot stop making a fool of himself and the city. Worry about your drug dealing police department and pill popping fire department. Boston is so far behind other major cities and has turned into a dirty pit thanks to this jackass. Take a trip to New York and see how beautiful a big city can be when a mayor with a brain is elected.

Menino is such a goon.

Don't blame me. I voted for Maura Hennigan!

Mumbles is on the wrong side on this one. Is it his goal is to push all of these people to the (already overburdened) Emergency Rooms of the city?

At now we're banning trans-fats! (lol)

I agree with most of the commenters here. If you're interested in my take on this issue, I made a blog post about it when the Public Health Commission announced their decision.

URL = http://healthcarewatch.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/massachusetts-allows-in-store-clinics/

I'm not trying to spam, but I just feel doing this is more useful than posting the entire thing here.

So it is OK for CVS & Stop & Shop to have affordable flu/pneumonia clinics but now, it isn't OK to have walk in clinics? Lets have a reality check here on the haves and have nots. Have you stood in line at CVS, waiting for a prescription that is covered by your BC/BS(I guess that makes me a have) and see an elderly person who gets a prescription and doesn't have insurance and the script costs $180.00? I can't help but wonder how the uninsured and usually low income retirees can afford it.

And now Menino, who by his position gets first class treatment at area hospitals and has health insurance that is top notch, makes a self serving statement like this?We are not all equal when it comes to health care and income.

As far as the doctor to be citing some rare skin rash and would a clinic at CVS be able to diagnose it?Maybe not, but how about all the missed dx's by the medical profession, the ones we hear about that are only the tip of the iceberg?

Let's rethink this one, Mayor Menino

Fortunately I do have good insurance, and for that, I am grateful.

Before Mayor Menino attacks the Department of Public Health officials he should stop at a local ER anytime to see how busy & crowded it is specially for patient with minor illness. The PA & NP are professionals they'll know when a patient is seriouslly ill so what seem to be his problem?

As an experienced NP, I am outraged by the Mayor's ill advised, misinformed and uneducated reasoning as to why he would like to bain such clinics in the city. There have been countless research articles published in crediable scientific journals that looked at safety of care provided, efficiency of care and cost effectiveness of NP care. In addition, patient satisfaction has shown again and again that NP's provide care equal to or better than an MD. What is he so afraid of? That the wait times in Boston City's ER, might be affected?? For urgent care with methods for referrals, it is a logical, scientific, way to move forward. Mass is the first in the Nation to mandate health coverage, so that unnecessary ER visits would decrease and save thousands in health care dollars, this is a way to appropriately utilize health care dollars. I am sure the Mayor's grandchildren are cared for by a PNP in their MD's office... he might want to check with his primary care MD as well.....

"As a soon to be MD (in less than 4 months) when my sick one or loved one is sick I want them to see a physician in a hospital setting with all the resources to care for them."

Easy for you to say, Todd, because as an MD your loved one is never going to sit in a germy emergency room waiting area surrounded by people who are hacking, wheezing, sneezing, bleeding and oozy -- you're going to move right to the front of the line.

For the rest of us, a properly supervised , professionally staffed health clinic such as the ones by CVS -- where we can get quick, reliable, affordable, professional treatment for minor ailments -- provides a tremendous alternative.

Reforming healthcare starts with embracing changes that make a difference, not maintaining the status quo. Because the status quo doesn't work.

These types of clinics are the best way to begin bringing prices down by opening up competition in health care. It's far better to have a free market in health care instead of what we have up here in Canada where you are forced to see a doctor for a small illness. What we have up here is socialized medicine, a state monopoly on health care. It is immoral to have a monopoly on health care and to underfund it. And bureaucracies are horribly inefficient. Remember, socialism means waiting in line for hours, and when you are a single mother with a child who has an ear ache, you'd rather pay a few bucks and get it treated quickly. It is not wrong to make money off sick people, it is wrong to make a killing. These clinics will bring those huge profits down and make health care more affordable for everyone, especially the poor.

Instead of all of the anecdotal pros and cons here, how about we leave it to free-market economics to decide. If people find the products and services offered by the clinics to be a superior alternative to other forms of care, then these CVS clinics SHOULD make a profit. Profits aren't evil, folks. And if these CVS clinics can't make any money, they will be closed down. That's how the market works.

A small fraction of patients within these clinics experience something not diagnoset at that site, which compares with the medical establishment, as suggested by the AMA. The service is desireable, and more comfortable than other treatment avenues. Occasionally, the quality may be better, as it relates to time and compassion. Negativity surrounding these urgent care lights is a turf concern with the AMA being the greatest opponent. They are part of a solution to an unreasonable health care system that exists today.