Private clinics may be the future

The setting: Each county is responsible for the health of its population and this week’s article, Crisis and Commitment, shows the history of LA County’s close calls with its health care system, concerning its fiscal security. The article shows that they are always concerned about balancing the county health care budget as well as the health of its population.

They definitely that they do not take closing hospitals lightly.

The problem: With the closures of county clinics and hospitals, like MLK in 2007, the county of Los Angeles DHS was trying to secure its most critical elements of its health care, like their "trauma, hospital and specialty care services," according the the LA county officials, according to an LA Times article. Furthermore, they showed commitment to close the health care gap for the poor and the rest of the population by wanting to supplement existing private clinics to care for indigent population. They better. They should prevent the feelings that lead up to civil explosions like the Watts Riots. MLK was built as LA County’s reaction to these Riots.

Part of the solution: The idea of having health care satellites like these private health care clinics sounds pleasant enough. Closer, more personal health care sounds as nice as going to the neighborhood pharmacy. On top of that, the county is saving money by substituting these for its own, more costly, county clinics, which are currently closing in the tens per year. (In case anyone is worried about areas that do not have private clinics, the LA Times article mentioned William T. Fujioka, the county’s chief executive, who said that the county clinics would not close in areas that already do not have private clinics, like the Antelope Valley). I do not see private clinics as a complete solution, however.

Some questions still exist: How will a private clinic, which is not required to accept indigent patients, will accept the uninsured patients which have been displaced by hospital closures? Even though the county will contract with these clinics, will they be able to accommodate for all the displaced patients?

Vision for the future: There is an article that mentions retail clinics inside neighborhood retail stores like Walmart, CVS pharmacy and Walgreen's. They offer preventative services for now but in the future, I can see them offering more comprehensive types of health services.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/14/local/me-clinics14
http://www.aishealth.com/Bnow/hbd020509.html