1. Convenience:
The consumer should have access to care when and where they need it, which may include physical, virtual or at-home points of care. While many retail health providers have attempted to offer convenient solutions, the end-to-end experience – from scheduling to care delivery to payment – should feel convenient to the consumers, which is rarely the case.
2. Price transparency:
Before receiving care, the consumer should know what they will pay out of pocket for the service or product, similar to the experience of shopping for a box of cereal where prices are clearly marked. This will provide differentiation from one of traditional health care’s biggest pain points.
3. Offering integration:
The consumer should be able to access adjacent and complementary services and products in a seamless, integrated manner. Currently, retail health providers may have multiple offerings that are not integrated or complementary. For example, a provider may offer both pharmacy and clinical services, but have separate web portals, brands and payment processes. This breaks the end-to-end experience and reduces a company’s ability to meet multiple consumer needs. Offering integration will also allow organizations to improve stickiness, increase foot traffic, and collect better data and harness it for informed decision-making and marketing to boost overall revenue and enhance care.
4. Interoperability:
The consumer’s data should be accessible across all points of care to maintain a seamless experience. Having health and prescription history, as well as insurance and payment information, readily available will facilitate the continuity of care and will support the other business model characteristics of convenience and consistency.
5. Consistency:
The consumer should know what to expect, and the experience can be nearly identical from location to location and person to person. The value of consistency is clear – a consumer has a better experience when they are in a familiar setting. This can be seen in traditional retailers that have created an environment that looks and feels the same across locations, providing comfort and trust in their brand. This concept can yield even more benefits in health, where it is paramount that consumers feel safe and comfortable as they relay personal information to their care team. Creating consistency also allows retail health providers to scale quickly, lowering costs.
Why the definition of retail health matters
Retail health – broadly defined – saw a spike in growth during the pandemic, but actual growth rates over the last several years have been below initial projections. While vaccinations and testing served as a catalyst for growth, retail health providers forecasted high organic growth, given other market trends (e.g., a shift toward lower-acuity care settings, long wait times, physician practice closures and staffing shortages). However, as the supply of retail health offerings increased, demand did not materialize.
Expectations vs. Reality: Retail Health Clinic Utilization 2020-2024