Going to a Clinic

Yesterday, I had my first opportunity to go to one of the many clinics out there.  I went to a TakeCare HealthClinic which was in the local Walgreens.  Here are some quick observations:

1. Kiosk for check-in works great, but I don’t understand why it doesn’t take my insurance card and license right there.
2. No line, but I have seen one there before.
3. The nurse practitioner did a very thorough job although heavily aided by a workflow application that forced her to ask me dozens of questions.  (This would appear to be the secret sauce…other than the relationship with Walgreens.)
4. Determined that I have allergies and wrote me several prescriptions. 
5. Initially the prescriptions were off formulary, but the system flagged that and we found some with generics available. 
6. No real pressure to fill them at Walgreens.  I felt some implicit pressure, but it was probably self-inflicted.
7. No health information.  I think they missed an opportunity to provide me with information on seasonal allergies.

Overall, I was pleased.  It took longer (~30 minutes) than I expected, but I believe that was due to the thoroughness of the application.  I am not sure if (or how) that information gets to my primary care physician which would be a nice follow through.  I am also a little surprised they don’t offer to push the information to an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) or my Personal Health Record (PHR). 

The fact that I didn’t need an appointment and feel like the diagnosis was right was great.  I did ask her how many people came there inappropriately and she told me that they have had to call an ambulance and send people to the ER.