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Aug 03, 2007 -- Wal-Mart embraces the "doc-in-a-box" trend

About two years ago, Clark first started talking about clinics where you can go to see a medical professional without an appointment. Big retail chains like Wal-Mart and Target sometimes have such places on premises. What you usually do is speak with a nurse practitioner, not an actual doctor. But they're affordable and a good choice if you have a very routine medical concern. The drugstores chains have also jumped on the idea of these in-store clinics because they help create an instant market for their own pharmacy counters. The latest development now is that Wal-Mart has announced plans to establish 2,000 of these "doc-in-a-box" practices in its stores.

Clark loves the idea of having a one-stop shop option in the medical field. Up until now, the medical profession has been very slow to embrace change in the marketplace. That's why the healthcare experience for the average American includes going to the doctor's office across town, getting a handwritten prescription and then running all the way back across town to the pharmacy just to wait to have it filled. That's a very inefficient process that's not customer friendly. This new wave of in-store clinics promises to help shake up the medical field. And because they take up very little real estate in a retail store, Clark believes they're the wave of the future. Whether it's a good or bad future remains to be seen; at the very least, the clinics will help alleviate the crunch in hospital emergency rooms.

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