"Health care in a grocery store? Are you out of your mind?" That's what some people thought of the idea behind The Little Clinic, which runs 150 small, walk-in health clinics in Kroger and Publix supermarkets.
While working in hospitals early in her career, Loscalzo saw people waiting for hours to get treated for simple illnesses like earaches and sinusitis. She also saw highly capable nurse practitioners being underutilized. So she helped found the Little Clinic, to bring both parties together at supermarkets, figuring that would be a convenient place for women, who often are the ones who get family members to the doctor.
But don't assume this integration was seamless. "While nurse practitioners come to the table with this great set of clinical and technical skills and credentials," says Loscalzo, "we really had to train, reorient them on how to practice in a retail setting, how to market themselves, how to deliver good customer service, and how to build relationships with people."
She sees retail clinics as a solution for health-care reform: "We're accessible. We're affordable. We're high quality." --J.S.
NEXT: Michelle Jones
