Physicians Practice: Retail clinics are changing the role of the primary care physician

Across the United States, there are nearly 9,000 urgent care centers and more than 500 freestanding emergency rooms.

Increased access to healthcare service is changing the role of the traditional primary care physician, and it can lead to fragmented care.

Physicians Practice talked to Dr. Michael Munger, a Saint Luke's primary care physician, about what doctors can do to meet consumers' needs within traditional practices and how they can close the communication gap with outside retail clinics.

“The onus is on primary care physicians to deliver what our patients need,” Munger said. “How can I make sure I’m available to patients? Sometimes that could be as straightforward as making sure you have someone on call for your practice 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That way, you can tell patients that if they need help, they can call you first, so you’ll know what’s going on. Perhaps you’ll just tell them they need to be seen in urgent care, but if they’ve communicated with you before they go, you know that you have something to follow up with. You know you need to close the loop.”

Read the full Physicians Practice article: Retail clinics are changing the role of the primary care physician