Check your luggage, then check your prescription at Philly airport

The concept of the retail clinic—already spreading from chain drug stores to grocery stores and workplaces—is taking off again and has airports nationwide as its next destination. The opening of such a clinic at the Philadelphia airport marks the second one established by Atlanta-based AeroClinic. The clinics are intended to address the medical needs of travelers often too busy to visit their doctor for minor ill-care, well-care, and prepackaged prescriptions. The Philadelphia clinic, which opened in late December, is located in the high-traffic hallway between the A and B concourses, the latter of which is used by Philly-hubbed US Airways.

“Only one-third of Americans get to see their doctor on the day they are ill,” says AeroClinic CMO Rosemary Kelly. The clinics offer walk-in healthcare to the flying public, airline employees, and general airport communities, she says, as well as affordable health services that are available without an appointment and typically rendered in less than 20 minutes “We provide a quick, convenient, affordable solution. Our expectation is that at full maturity the clinic could be assisting 70-plus patients per day,” Kelly says.

Like its year-and-a-half-old sister clinic in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, the Philadelphia location stocks both prescription medications in prepackaged form and over-the-counter medications. Prepackaged treatments include non-narcotic pain and cough medications, antibiotics, travel medications, vaccines, hypertensive medications, gastrointestinal medications, and dermatological creams. The clinics are manned by nurse practitioners and physician assistants, so prescriptions can be written and filled on site.

“Our intention is to build a network of AeroClinic locations across the country. We believe that the power of our concept for travelers will come in the development of this network,” says Kelly. So when travelers have more than one stop in a week, she explains, they can schedule an appointment ahead of time with the AeroClinic at their next stop to take care of a condition they might otherwise have ignored. “We are currently in discussions with other airports and plan to actively pursue the growth of our company,” Kelly says.

Services typically cost $25 to $100. Most major insurance plans are accepted. Clinic staff will communicate with the traveler’s primary care physician via the clinic’s EMR system or telephone, or provide the patient with information to supply to the doctor.