Now Drugstores Are Pitching ‘Talk Therapy.’ How Far from Primary Care Will They Go?

As JUCM News readers know, after years of spending billions on initiatives to break into the primary care market, retail drug chains have taken one step after another in the opposite direction. Just last week we pointed you to an article published by Home Health Care News that revealed home care has become the flavor of the month for some chains. Well, it may literally be the same month but there’s already another flavor on the menu: talk therapy. CVS has started emailing providers asking them to refer patients to select MinuteClinic locations for mental health services. Corresponding MinuteClinic websites list licensed clinical social workers in the patient’s area; in one medium-sized midwestern market, for example, there are two such locations at opposite sides of the city, where patients can see one of two providers who are on site for 12 hours, 2 days a week at a cost of $129 per hour. While this does expand access to behavioral health services—a positive step, given the dearth of licensed professionals in many areas—the question remains as to how this fits into the larger corporate objective of driving prescriptions. Presumably, by attempting forays into primary care, CVS and MinuteClinic aim to drive prescriptions, which in this case is a nonstarter since prescribing of psychoactive medications is detached from counseling with an LCSW. Then, of course, there’s the question of how many individuals will feel comfortable sharing their innermost concerns when their neighbor could be standing right outside the door browsing the sunscreen selections. For more on the overarching issue from an urgent care perspective, read ‘Big Retail’ Pivots Are a Retreat from ‘On Demand’ Care in the JUCM archive.