Retail clinics are walk-in clinics located in grocery stores and retail pharmacies and providing care for minor conditions. Hospital systems have recently started owning and operating them. No studies have to our knowledge described hospital-owned clinics. In this paper, we assess the operational issues, types of conditions treated and types of marketing approaches used by hospital-owned retail clinics. Data on 19 health systems that own and operate retail clinics was collected by Merchant

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... ine. Only 4 out of 19 hospital systems reported that their first owned retail clinic was operating at breakeven. About one third of the patients treated are cash-pay patients while half are covered by private health insurance plans. The clinics tend to focus on a few limited conditions such as upper respiratory infections, allergies, minor skin conditions, and physical exams and shots. A small minority of the patient population is very young (under 5) or very old (over 65), with the other age segments almost equally represented. Patients that visit the clinics seem to have heard about it especially through word of mouth. The health systems invest modestly in some marketing media such as print, radio and billboard advertising, Internet, direct mail and sponsoring of community events. Retail clinics can play an important role for hospital systems in the future, especially as part of a larger primary care strategy. Methods We invited 55 representatives from hospital-owned retail clinic operators to participate in the study and sent them instructions on how to access the survey anonymously. A convenience sample of 20 systems was included in our study and representative from each system J o u rn al of P ri m a ry He alth ca re : O p en Acc e s s