Worried about competition from retail store clinics and the price sensitivity of patients paying their own medical bills, primary care doctors are finding ways to make their practices more service oriented, reports The New York Times. The American Academy of Family Physicians, for example, is spending $8 million to advise doctors on how to make it easier for patients to make appointments and be seen the same day. Some physicians are using web-based scheduling for their patients’ convenience, holding clinics at noon with a guarantee that patients with be seen in 30 minutes (and at prices similar to those at retail store clinics), and leaving as much as 70% of their day unscheduled to accommodate walk-in patients. “It’s a big trend,” a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Family Physicians told the Times.
