From cottage industry to a dominant mode of primary care: Stages in the diffusion of a health care innovation (retail clinics)

► Primary care is widely viewed as in crisis (in the US only about 5% of medical students are choosing this area of work). ► Recent studies have documented the worrisome inaccessibility of primary care in the US. ► Recent reform of US health care requires people to have a primary care practitioner who are in ever shorter supply. ► Millions of Americans use retail clinics and report high levels of satisfaction with accessibility and quality of care. ► The extensive use of nurse practitioners is changing the division of labor in US medical care.