For good or bad new approaches to health care delivery have been market-drive over the past three decades. Spritzler (2000) maintains, "HMOs and hospitals, whether 'for-profit' or not, are driven by market competition to keep their costs low and sell their 'product' for as much as the market will bear" (p. 1). This self-interested driver for health care delivery has led to soaring health care costs and diminished care. One such change is the way that the Bush Administration fought for "health saving accounts (HSAs) that cover major medical expenses and catastrophes only (Zdechlik, 2006, p. 1). Typically such options for health care are not available for the poor and working class. Physicians are pressured to choose the bottom line over their patients' best interests while nurses are double-burdened from cuts in staff. All of this leads to a reduction in quality of care while at the same time health care has become unaffordable for a significant portion of the population.
The market-driven nature of health care does not have to be a negative factor. When it is used in a non-corporate manner, it can lead to successful new approaches to health care delivery that overcome many of the obstacles in current health care approaches like corporate-run HMOs. One example of this is a program being implemented in Minnesota known as "MinuteClinic" (Zdechlik, 2006, p. 1). MinuteClinic resembles true market-based health care delivery more than most approaches today. Zdechlik (2006) notes it is built on "convenience, customer service and up-front pricing" (p. 1). By linking the actual costs to treatment options, patients demand better value and are more careful in the care they seek. The MinuteClinics offer quality treatment that helps turn patients into consumers where their own health care is concerned.
MinuteClinics are located throughout Minnesota in places like CVS Pharmacy. A nurse practitioner offers ...