by Linda Przygodski
Duane Reade’s not just for tissues, shampoo and band aids anymore! They have teamed up with Consumer Health Services in an effort to provide walk-in medical care at select locations.
The goal is simple: CHS in partnership with Duane Reade is set to provide quality physician-directed care at locations that are easy and convenient for the patient. CHS has developed this program and utilizes it by working with leading local heath care delivery systems, doctors and insurers. The idea is to make medical care easier, so that people can access it when they shop, near their work, or just wherever.
“The way this works is that Duane Reade is re-branding themselves as a health and wellness destination, to that end DR launched several healthcare initiatives, and Walk-In Medical Care is the latest initiative,” says Trevor Arnold, a representative for Consumer Health Services. “We manage the physician offices that are available to treat patients on a walk-in basis.
“What Consumer Health Services does is we recruit the physician practice. Right now, it is available at four locations in Manhattan and we are going to expand into the five boroughs. We are looking at two more locations in Manhattan by the first quarter of next year, 2 in Brooklyn, 2 in Queens, 2 in Staten Island to start and we will also be moving further North in the Bronx.
“Our goal is not to take the place of primary care but to be an access point for treatment because it is convenient for people to come in, off hours or after hours.”
Currently, the four locations in Manhattan which are located at: Broadway and 50th Street; 86th and Lexington Avenue; Broadway and 97th Street and 63rd and Broadway are open 8:00 to 8:00 pm weekdays, 9:00 to 5:00 on Saturday and from 11:00 to 5:00 on Sunday.
They take patients with insurance or without and offer a wide range of services from basic care to advanced care.
“You don’t want to wait several hours in an emergency room to have something minor taken care of,” continues Arnold. “Most medical services are under $100 and no single service provided is more than $200. In that case, the patient would pay whatever their rate would be for walking into an urgent care facility; or if your plan does not have that distinction, then walking into a physician’s office. To give you an example: a typical office visit would be between $150-300, at our site you can walk in and for $95 you can get a general check-up and we will also include with that if you want to have a strep test done, or any of the hand-held tests done ... we have these services to provide a broader scope than if you were to walk into a nurse only facility.”
The appeal is clear for those in the tri-state area who are uninsured.
“The way it’s priced now at $95, you would be hard pressed to find a better deal. Out of pocket, under $100 for an office visit is fantastic. We can actually suture you if you have a minor laceration or do other procedures on site using the physician’s skill. If it’s something that is really out of the scope of our service, the physician will refer you onto a specialist or the emergency room but at least you have that contact with the physician and have them available to make a medical judgment.”
With the fall right around the corner, in conjunction with the launch of this program, they are also creating a massive back-to-school effort available at all their locations.
“We are launching a back-to-school immunization initiative, we are going to enable patients to call into a number or register online and let us know that they will be presenting in person within 48-hours to be immunized and to get there records up to date to go back to school. If you are an athlete and need to have a general check-up done for your sports program our physicians are on staff to do that for you as well. So you don’t have to make an appointment weeks or months in advance, you can register and walk in and we can provide that service.”