Assessing Retail Health Clinics as a Cost Containment Strategy in New York

Retail health clinics are small health care facilities located in high-traffic retail outlets—such as drugstores and grocery stores—that offer basic health services, such as general check-ups, immunizations, and health tests and screenings.

Retail clinics tend to have more extensive and flexible hours, and are less expensive than traditional primary care settings. Despite these advantages, retail clinics have yet to become well established in New York State.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. (Manhattan Institute) assessed the current status of retail health clinics in New York State and their potential for future growth and found that retail health clinics could help fill a void in providing patients with access to basic medical services for minor ailments if a few existing regulatory barriers in the State were modified. Their analysis was published in a report which received numerous coverage throughout the State. As a result, two bills have been introduced in the New York State legislature that would create a special pathway for retail health centers to expand in the State.