On a wintry weekend in 1999, Rick Kreiger took his ailing son to an urgent care center in Minneapolis to get a strep throat test. After a two-hour wait to be seen, he surmised that there had to be a quicker and more convenient option for treating common illnesses.
A year later, Krieger and partners Douglas Smith, MD, and Steve Pontius founded a busness that became MinuteClinic. The first health care centers opened in Cub Foods stores in Minneapolis-St. Paul in May 2000 and provided services for seven common medical conditions: strep throat, mono, flu, female bladder infections, ear infections, sinus infections and pregnancy testing. Patients paid cash -- about $30 a service.
The new model took off and MinuteClinic health care centers were added at several Target stores and corporate office locations in the Twin Cities.
Less than a year later, MinuteClinic opened its first health care centers in CVS/pharmacy stores in Minneapolis and Baltimore. By first quarter 2006, MinuteClinic health care centers will be located in 10 U.S. markets with aggressive expansion plans.
Since its inception, MinuteClinic has provided nearly 300,000 patient visits with surveys showing 99 percent customer satisfaction. It has helped uninsured individuals, self-insured employers, and health insurance companies substantially reduce the costs of health care resulting in millions of dollars in savings and countless hours of wasted time.
Insiders' view: One to watch.
http://www.minuteclinic.com/
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