One-Stop-Shop -- Your Nearest Pharmacy?

Not care from home, but it's becoming more and more common to hear about testing, vaccinations, and minor consultations happening at pharmacies. Some more info about this trend below:

Sore Throat Checks Going National (Chemist & Druggist): Boots is hoping that it's on-the-spot sore throat swab service currently available in some pharmacies will roll out nationally in the UK. Boots’ program was scaled up in 2016 by the NHS Innovation Accelerator Program. This throat swab enables people to get tested and, if necessary, pick up medicine from the same spot.

A bit out dated (2016), but here’s an article from The Guardian opposing the expansion of the Boots’ throat swabs.

CVS vs. Doctors? (NYTimes): Pharmacies are expanding their services and, overall, this seems to be more convenient for consumers. 

This Detroit Free Press article discusses the changes happening in Michigan and talks about the convenience provided by CVS minute clinics (among other pharmacies’ clinics). These pharmacy clinics provide a wide variety of services (covered by insurance) and offer a one-stop-shop for consumers. Their rise in popularity certainly shows that consumers care about convenience and speed when looking for a care provider. 

One big problem mentioned is that a patient’s health history will be divided across different care teams -- a primary care doctor might not know a patient was diagnosed with strep throat at the pharmacy. This concern highlights the need for medical information to flow easily between different care teams.

Another legitimate concern is the potential conflict of interest between the pharmacy that prescribes medication and the care team within the pharmacy that needs to decide whether to prescribe medications…

Medical Testing at Walgreens (Bloomberg): In October 2018 Walgreens partnered with LabCorp to open medical testing facilities in 600 of its stores. Waiting to hear about the results of this expansion.