Convenience Clinics: Characteristics of Persons Using Walk-in Retail Health Clinics and Urgent Care Centers and the Impact on Preventive Care and Screening Services

Abstract

Convenience clinics, including walk-in retail health clinics and urgent care centers, offer care during extended office hours for a limited scope of time-limited acute conditions. Although utilization patterns of these clinics vary, they are increasingly used by some people as a source of regular care. This dissertation describes the factors associated with convenience clinic use for usual care, examines changing patterns in convenience clinic use for usual care following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and analyzes the relationship between the use of convenience clinics for usual care and receipt of some recommended preventive care and screening services. This analysis uses 2019, 2022, and 2023 data from the National Health Interview Survey and regression modeling techniques to explore each of these aims. We found that among people with a place of usual care, people who were younger and uninsured were more likely to report convenience clinics as a usual source of care. Among people with a place of usual care and who have seen a healthcare provider in the last year, people who report convenience clinics as a usual source of care had a significantly lower likelihood of receiving some preventive care services compared to people reporting usual care at a doctor’s office or health center. This research provides insight for healthcare providers on the changing demand for convenience clinics in the ambulatory landscape and fills an important gap in the extant literature.