Meijer Adds Physician-Staffed Clinics

WENDY TOTH

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer here is housing two physician-staffed Medical Marts clinics in stores in the western suburbs of Chicago, with plans to add at least one more in the area, according to Las Vegas-based Medical Marts.

The first of the three opened three weeks ago in St. Charles, Ill. The second opened two weeks ago in Aurora, Ill. And the final is planned to open in Algonquin, Ill., sometime in the next two weeks, according to Dr. Kenneth Richmond, a Wilmette, Ill., physician and vice president and chief medical officer of Medical Marts.

The clinics will be primary care family medical practices with a doctor on the premises. They will be open seven days a week.

“Our model separates us from the more common nurse practitioner in-store clinics,” Richmond said. “We run our business much the same as any primary care physician's office except we are located in mass merchandise stores for one reason: Access to physicians has been one of the major problems in the health care system as it is delivered, and this makes it easy.”

Because the Meijer stores are open seven days a week, and conveniently located, they made a good match for Medical Marts, Richmond said. Medical Marts take walk-in patients as well as appointments. Each typically hires two full-time physicians at the outset of operations. “Our model is for two physicians to work at the practice taking three full days one week and four days the next. It is very hard for private-practice physicians to make ends meet due to rent and the high cost of insurance. We enable them to have a lifestyle,” Richmond said.

Medical Marts currently has three major clients: Meijer; Shopko, Green Bay Wis.; and Kmart Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill. It has opened seven medical practices in Utah in Shopko stores, and has two planned for Illinois Kmart stores. The company hopes to open in 400 to 450 locations in the next two years, Richmond said.