Mayor Thomas M. Menino embarked on a highly public campaign yesterday to block CVS Corp. and other retailers from opening medical clinics inside their stores, an effort that exposed a rift between Menino and the state's public health commissioner, a longtime ally.The clinics would reduce reliance on emergency rooms and serve a vital need in the community.
Menino blasted state regulators for paving the way Wednesday for the in-store clinics, which are designed to provide treatment for sore throats, poison ivy, and other minor illnesses.
The decision by the state Public Health Council, "jeopardizes patient safety," Menino said in a written statement. "Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene. Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong."
In a separate letter, Menino urged members of the city's Public Health Commission to consider barring the clinics from Boston. CVS executives said they plan to open 25 to 30 MinuteClinics in Greater Boston before the end of the year, although they have not specified how many of those will be within the city's limits.
The Boston Public Health Commission spent nearly an hour discussing the impending arrival of the clinics and ways they could potentially be stopped.
The panel took no action, but instructed the health agency's attorney to investigate whether it could adopt regulations forbidding stores with clinics from selling tobacco products, forcing them to make an untenable financial choice. The city says 31 CVS stores and 56 other pharmacies in Boston have city-issued licenses to sell tobacco.
In a statement issued last night, executives of MinuteClinics said they "would be happy to talk to Mayor Menino about any of his concerns."
"We at MinuteClinic are committed to providing convenient, affordable access to quality health care," the statement said.
By issuing a broadside against the clinics and the state's approval of them, Menino placed himself squarely in opposition to a former longtime deputy, John Auerbach. Before becoming the state's public health commissioner last year, Auerbach spent nine years as executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission.
Auerbach's state agency yesterday released a statement defending its decision on the clincs: "The members of the Public Health Council were deliberative and thoughtful in their review of the limited service clinic regulation. We believe these types of clinics, operated either as part of a retail operation or in a nonprofit setting, can provide the public access to safe, convenient, and quality care for minor health issues."
The clinics are not designed to treat chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes or serious emergencies. The facilities will be staffed with nurse-practitioners who are trained to spot patients with more severe illnesses or in need of specialized care and send them to a doctor or an emergency room.
It's all about the money - if CVS can turn a profit on these low cost retail operations, then it shows that the government intervention into the health care market may not be necessary after all, which means big trouble for those espousing big government intervention in health care - all of the Democrats running in 2008 have proffered one version or another for government health care.
What is interesting is that the Boston Globe article fails to mention Menino's party affiliation. Why is that? Would that not raise some uncomfortable questions for the 2008 candidates? After all, why is a Democrat against cheap and affordable health care unless he's against retailers providing that service without relying upon the government for handouts?
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