Dollar General, the place where nothing costs a dollar, is now going into medicine. Yes, you read that right. And as gross as most of their stores are I would predict their entrance into providing care is the same. Here is the proof:
Dollar General customers at three locations in Tennessee can now see a healthcare provider in the store’s parking lot for preventative care, urgent care and chronic condition management services.
The nationwide retailer partnered with DocGo On-Demand to operate mobile clinics on select days outside the stores in Clarksville and Cumberland Furnace, Tenn. The clinics, set up in large vans, allow patients to schedule online or walk in without an appointment.
Operated as part of Dollar General’s DG | Wellbeing brand, clinicians can provide routine checkups, vaccines, lab tests, diagnostics including EKGs and wound care. Individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can also receive care at the clinics.
The urgent care services treat patients with the flu or COVID-19, skin issues, urinary tract infections, abdominal pain, migraines and gastrointestinal concerns.
DocGo On-Demand does accept major insurers as well as Medicaid/TennCare and Medicare plans. The company charges a flat fee for patients without insurance and collects the fee ahead of the visit.
Hmmmmm:
- Parking lots
- Vans
- “Clinicians”
- Flat Fees collected ahead of the visit
Sounds great. Here is an actual picture of a clinician who will see you in a van down by the river:
“Doctor General” is the title of this post but trust me, NO doctor will be working in the parking lot of Dollar General. These will be staffed by newly graduated non-doctors.
How does this affect you and DPC? It doesn’t. It just shows how desperate patients are to get their healthcare needs filled and will do it in a van in the parking lot of Dollar General. The fee-for-service insurance system sucks and no one is happy with it. I have often said that a DPC clinic beats out ANY of these offices because their service is so bad. It is like shooting fish in a barrel.
If Dollar General can make this plan work then you can make your Direct Primary Care Practice work as well.
Wow! In a van in a parking lot. Yikes!