If you live in Illinois, the answer could soon be “nobody.”

To date, over 1,000 small medical clinics have opened their doors in retail settings around the country. Places like Wal-Mart and CVS come to mind as leaders in this area. These types of places don’t need you to make an appointment and are usually staffed by nurse practitioners who treat everything from slivers to lacerations. It’s not necessarily urgent care from a medical standpoint, but it’s another place for the patient to get care - other than a trip to their doctors. They’re also convenient for people who want medical care that is affordable, and convenient.

But, in the state of Illinois, this could all come to an end. The Illinois State Medical Society wants these types of clinics closed in their state. In fact, the society is proposing a bill that would regulate clinics in retail settings out of business.

The proposed bill:

• Would prohibit healthcare facilities from opening and operating in any store that also sells alcohol and/or tobacco products. That pretty much takes care of all the retail locations, but the society didn’t stop there…
• Would mandate that there be a designated receptionist and waiting area. This means infrastructure costs that would make a retail clinic unprofitable.
• Would prohibit the promotion of fee comparisons. So you’d never know how much you’re saving.

Put it all together and you’ve got a law that would protect Illinois’ status quo. In essence, nobody would be able to compete with doctors’ office and consumers would be denied honest price comparisons.

The bill is so bad, that the FTC did something it doesn’t usually do - it criticized the medical society for proposing anti-competition laws that would harm consumers. The society is currently re-drafting the bill hoping that it gets passed in some form, and its lobbying group says the bill is designed to ensure patients get proper care.

Then why are they trying to get rid of these clinics?