Sore throat? No doctor? Run out to the store

As the health reform law takes effect, 30 million uninsured people will gain coverage, creating unprecedented demand for services from an already overburdened system. Indeed, a new report from Medicare estimates that health care expenditures will increase more than $2 trillion by 2020, consuming 20 percent of the U.S. economy.

To meet that demand, we must ramp up the supply of medical services. Retail health clinics and pharmacies are one of the best ways to do this. Treatments delivered in this setting can provide quality care at low cost and benefit patients, physicians, employers, taxpayers and the government.

In 2009, more than 1,000 retail clinics were operating in the U.S. According to clinic tracker Merchant Medicine, the number could almost triple by 2015. These clinics provide treatment for many common ailments, like sore throats and earaches. They also provide preventive care, including vaccinations and cholesterol screenings.

These clinics aren't designed to replace primary care physicians; they're designed to complement them. They offer a unique combination of low prices, convenience and accessibility. That set-up is extremely attractive, particularly for Americans who don't have a regular doctor.

It's no wonder that use has nearly doubled over the past three years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. A 2009 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners found that 96 percent of retail-clinic users were satisfied or very satisfied with their care.

The popularity of these clinics shouldn't be surprising. Prices are low and publicly advertised. Nearly all accept insurance, and patients can visit at their convenience. But not everyone is a fan. This summer, the American Medical Association came out against retail clinics, saying it would lobby insurers not to provide incentives for patients to visit retail outlets.

The AMA claims that it is solely concerned with quality and continuity of care. But research shows that care provided by retail clinics is consistently comparable, and in some cases superior, to that provided by conventional medical clinics.

In 2009, independent researchers at the Rand Corp. compared cost, quality, and accessibility at retail clinics, urgent-care centers and emergency rooms. On a quality scale, with 100 percent being perfect, the clinics finished first with 63.6 percent. Urgent-care centers and physicians' offices followed closely. Overburdened ERs finished last, at 55.1 percent.

Furthermore, a 2010 Rand study of three common illnesses found that the average visit to a retail clinic cost $110, compared with $156 for urgent-care centers, $166 at a physician's office and $570 at an ER. At the retail clinics of Target, my employer - which has two in Palm Beach County - minor illness exams run as low as $59, while a wellness visit is $25 to $64.

Across clinics, young adults in general good health account for a third of users. This makes sense; evidence suggests that about 30 percent of clinic patients don't have a source of primary care, and about 25 percent of patients who show up at clinics would have gone to an ER if not for the retail clinic.