Dr Walk-in Medical Care: James D'Orta, M.D. Consumer Health Services

Drug Store News (Magazine)
June 25, 2007

NEW YORK - Manhattan-based pharmacy retailer Duane Reade and Consumer Health Services recently announced the launch of DR Walk-in Medical Care, the first physician-present walk-in health clinic in New York. James D'Orta, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Consumer Health Services, recently talked with Drug Store News about the model and how it differs from the nurse practitioner-staffed model. Before founding Consumer Health Services, D'Orta served as an investor, medical advisor and board member to MinuteClinic, which is now owned by CVS.

Drug Store News:Tell readers about Consumer Health Services-what makes you different?

D'Orta: We are a corporation with our headquarters in Washington, D.C., and our mission is to be a systems integrator. In [our] model, ? one leg of the triangle is the provider. The provider is made up of physicians and the health care system, along with the ancillary support. The second leg of the triangle is the payor, and the base of it is a retail partner. That is the triangle of success. That was the image that we had in mind as we built Consumer Health Services. We are a health care delivery system within a retail location, which differs from the nurse-staffed model of the systems that were developed prior to ours. We build a bridge to the health care delivery system through our Consumer Health Care locations.

Drug Store News: How do you serve as that bridge?

D'Orta: We partner with a retail pharmacy and we license from that retail pharmacy space to provide an urgent express care delivery model. Then we co-brand that health care delivery model with the retail partner and the health care system. Our clinics have integrated the provider, the payor and the retail partner.

Drug Store News: Can you explain your physician-staffed model and how it differs from the NP model?

D'Orta: We will use physicians, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners and other extenders of health care, but they are all structured through a physician-practice model. When you walk in you are greeted by a physician extender (could be a nurse practitioner, physician assistant or medical technician). So, depending on your location, the initial person you would meet would be one of those individuals. You are then placed into the exam room where you are seen by the doctor-not too dissimilar from an urgent care center, without the diagnostic and radiology. Our ability and scope of services is broader than a nurse-staffed model inside a retail location. The services that we have are more comprehensive because they are more physician-driven. We tend to cover a broader spectrum of acute illnesses and injuries, along with occupational and employee issues. For example, we would be able to take care of more of the flu-like symptoms, take care of scrapes, sprains and minor lacerations. The NP model tends to focus more on acute care and we tend to drift more toward the urgent care.

Drug Store News: What is the growth plan for Consumer Health Services?

D'Orta: We are licensed for just over 60 clinics in New York with Duane Reade. And we are in the final contract phase with another national provider and we will be opening an additional 80 clinics in several other markets scheduled to open in the fall of this year.

Drug Store News: Explain how the clinic's back-end system works.

D'Orta: Our electronic medical records system is based on urgent care electronic medical records. Our electronic medical records are focused on evidence-based medical standards of practice. We have a direct accessibility to make sure the patient has that record to be able to use wherever they need to use it, and we have developed a proprietary component of this intellectual property called On Pulse MD. It is a broader, more sophisticated electronic medical record. One that is found more in urgent care than in a clinic setting.