New Walk-In Care Clinic in Glenville offers ease of access

A Capital Region health care provider has opened the area’s first medical clinic where people can walk in without an appointment or without insurance and receive treatment for minor ailments for $40 per visit.

Community Care Physicians opened its Walk-In Care Clinic July 6 in Stewart’s Shops Plaza, 411 Ballston Road. The clinic treats more than two dozen non-urgent medical conditions, such as minor injuries, ear infections, cold sores, swimmer’s ear and rashes.

Robert Kleinbauer, director and chief of operations for Community Care Physicians, said the Walk-in Care Clinic will serve “a population seeking ease, convenience and access.”

CCP plans to open two more walk-in clinics over the next year within its five-county service area in the Capital Region.

Marissa Kanthal, a family nurse practitioner, staffs the clinic from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. She treats people age 2 and older and can write prescriptions.

Bill Spolyar, director of the Schenectady Free Clinic, welcomed the Walk-in Care Clinic. “It is another opportunity for the community to receive care,” he said.

Spolyar said the walk-in clinic will help relieve patient loads in local emergency rooms. “The emergency room is still seeing that kind of patient, and anything to reduce that load is a benefit to the community,” he said.

The walk-in clinic, also called the retail health center, is based on a model developed by Convenient Care Association, a Midwest-based group of companies and health care systems. Since 2006, approximately 1,200 walk-in clinics have opened throughout the United States, many of them in grocery stores, drug stores or retail outlets like Walmart.

A September 2009 study in the “Annals of Internal Medicine” found that walk-in clinics provide a level of care as good as that found in a doctor’s office or urgent care center and sometimes better than that in emergency rooms for some conditions.

The study also said the clinic fee is much lower than compared to doctor’s offices and about 80 percent less than in the emergency room.

Kleinbauer said the $40 fee is an affordable rate for medical care in the Capital Region. “It is not a lot [of money] for people who are underinsured or without insurance,” he said. Blood work and complex medical tests require additional fees.

On the flip side, the American Academy of Family Physicians opposes walk-in clinics because they can fragment patient care.

Kleinbauer said CCP is “not looking to develop a continuity of care here, but we are patient-centered and we want to provide medical care in a way that is convenient, accessible and uses technology and quality skilled providers.”

Kanthal said she will not follow people with chronic medical conditions that require continuity and follow-up. She said patients with those conditions should seek medical care through a primary care physician. If they do not have one, she will refer them to a physician associated with Community Care Physicians. She also does not treat emergencies.

The walk-in clinic is connected to CCP’s medical records system. So if the person is a CCP patient, Kanthal can immediately access their medical records online. If they are not in the system, she will take a brief medical history.

“We don’t need to go into your family history if you are coming in for a sinus infection,” she said.

Kleinbauer said the Glenville facility is “not trying to take work from anyone” but is there to offer “a valuable service for the Scotia and Glenville area.”

CCP in February closed Dr. Jung-Wen Chen’s medical office on Mohawk Avenue in Scotia and moved him to its medical facility on River Road in Niskayuna. Kleinbauer said the office was not cost effective. The Walk-in Care Clinic is more cost effective but added the decision to close Chen’s office was separate from the decision to open the walk-in clinic.

Schenectady County is considered a medically underserved area with a high population of people, estimated at about 15,000, who have little or no medical insurance. Ellis Medicine, Hometown Health and the Schenectady Free Clinic operate clinics to serve this population.

Spolyar said the walk-in clinic “will not compete with us. There are a lot more uninsured than we ever would take care of in this community.”

So far Kanthal’s patient load was been small. Kleinbauer said the clinic will require time to build its practice.

“It is a new concept,” he said. “We will give it a year to see if it grows.”

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