With everything that is wrong with the American health care system, the Minute Clinic at CVS makes everything seem right. The Minute Clinic at CVS enables you to avoid hours at overcrowded urgent care facilities and even longer emergency room visits. You no longer have to wait for extended periods, questioning when you will be seen and what quality of care you might receive.

The Minute Clinic at CVS requires no appointment, no being placed on hold, no checking doctors availability, no missing work, and no high co-pays meant to deter emergency room visits. The Minute Clinic is a modern day solution to a serious health care problem: Needing to seek professional help when you are too sick to get out of bed, wait hours in a crowded emergency room and receive minimal medical attention.

After ten days being home with sick children, the last thing a mother needs to hear is that her child has an ear ache. A mothers first concern is whether or not she has adequate health insurance. The second concern is how much will the co-pay be. The third concern is do I have the ability to pay the co-pay today, in cash or credit. This may depend on whether the child is seen at urgent care or in the emergency room. The fourth concern is how long it will take, urgent care may take four to six hours, where as the emergency room may take over eight to ten hours. The fifth concern is how will the sick child survive the wait. The sixth concern is whether or not the diagnosis will be worth the wait. What if the doctors are so busy that they don't take the time to order all the necessary test. The treatment in urgent care and emergency rooms presents too many concerns for a mother with a sick child. The Minute Clinic offers a refreshing alternative for half the price and half the time.

I was naturally reluctant about visiting a MInute Clinic, because my personal health and my families health care needs demand the best possible attention. Before our first visit to a Minute Clinic, I normally would have found out as much information as possible about the quality of care we would receive. But we did not have time.

Unfortunately, on Saturday my son started to complain about an earache in his left ear. Ear drops did not help. Overnight, the earache spread to the other ear. He was now crying in pain. Oh, how I dreaded going to the University Medical Center. On a Sunday, it would take at least four to six hours, The emergency room and urgent care share a waiting room which is always packed with both extremely ill patients spreading germs and drug addicts searching for a fix. On my last visit, with a gallstone attack, I waited ten hours. During which a child threw up, and it was not cleaned up for three to four hours. I requested help after a barefoot child walked through it. Remembering my recent experiences, I refused to allow my son to be tortured in that waiting room for hours. He was already miserable enough.

I remembered seeing the Minute Clinic sign on the side of the CVS shop. So I aksed my husband to look it up on the Internet. He found the nearest location less than three miles away on Speedway Boulevard. The cost for most services was $59. and surprisingly, the Minute Clinic accepts most insurance plans. I tried calling the MInute Clinic at the specific location, but the message provided limited information. It confirmed that no appointment was necessary and that each appointment took approximately fifteen minutes. A toll free number was provided for additional questions. 1(866)389-ASAP (2727). I decided to just go down to the Minute Clinic and see what else I could find out, because I wasn't sure what other questions I needed answered. My son was sick and he needed help.

The MInute Clinic is open on Saturdays and Sundays, between 10:00am and 4:30pm. The weekday hours are 8am -8pm. The Minute Clinic staff takes a break between 2:00 and 2:30pm. Since our son had been up all night with a fever, we decided to let him sleep until 2:30pm. We left the house at 3pm, arrived at the Minute Clinic at 3:10pm, parked right in front of the store, walked straight to the back of the CVS store, and signed in at 3:12pm.

The Minute Clinic consisted of a small table with an electronic sign board over it that listed the services and corresponding prices between $59. and $139. It was in the middle of two white opaque glass doors, which each led to a small office. A clip board with consent forms was on the desk. I signed one, and with in three minutes, an elderly lady in a white coat opened one of the doors and acknowledged me. She was just running someones credit card and let me know it would be another minute.

At 3:15pm, the lady in the white coat invited me and the children in. She offered the three of us two seats, and asked the children if they would mind sharing. I handed her the insurance card, and she proceeded to ask a series of questions. She asked the same questions on a standard health questionnaire, targeted a little more directly towards the patients current condition (an earache with fever). She entered all of the patients information and each answer directly into the computer. Since this was our first visit, it took approximately twenty minutes just to add us into the computer. Finally, she added the insurance information and my husband's work information since they provide the coverage. She then completed a standard exam, including height, weight, blood pressure, heart beat, respiration, mouth, nose and ear inspection.

She shared with us her findings, documented them in the computer and made a diagnosis. Sam's left ear was abnormally inflamed and red , and the same in the right ear. She was concerned about the right ear leaking fluids, the ear drum did not appear to be ruptured, there was no visible tear in it, but it did appear to be wrinkled. She confirmed no allergies, went over past history again, and recommended Amoxicillin. She additionally prescribed ear drops for the pain. She also advised about over the counter medicine and explained the proper dosage, discussing liquid and tablet options.

I noticed it was 3:45pm. Wow, what a great deal, I thought to myself. I'm really getting my value for money. While she was completing the paperwork, our fourteen year old daughter mentioned she was not feeling well. She has been claiming she has mononucleosis for two weeks, since a resident doctor at UMC Pediatrics mentioned she might. The Minute Clinic practitioner explained what mononucleosis was, what she needed to do if she had it, how important rest was and not to play contact sports, because one complication of mononucleosis could be an enlarged spleen and she would need to be cautious about hitting her spleen. The Minute Clinic practitioner did not make any diagnosis, she just provided a little background information on having mononucleosis and that satisfied my teenager's concern. (Which is priceless!)

The co-pay for our son was $10. dollars at Minute Clinic, it is usually $20. at Urgent Care, and now $125. at the Emergency Room. The prescriptions were printed out on blue paper, with detailed information on the diagnosis, the prescribed and over the counter medicine, and the correct amount to administer. The prescriptions were signed by the Minute Clinic practitioner, with RNP after her name. I assume she was a Registered Nurse Practitioner. The Minute Clinic states it "is staffed by board-certified Practitioners, serving patients 18 months and older." We received a higher quality of health care than expected, and appreciated the excellent bed side manner provided.

In addition to treating ear infections and mononucleosis, the Minute Clinic sees patients with the following ailments:

Common Illnesses:

Allergies (ages 6 and up)

Bladder Infections (female, ages 12-65)

Bronchitis (ages 10-65)

Ear Infections (over 18 months)

Pink Eyes and Styes (over 18 months)

Sinus Infections (ages 5 and up)

Strep Throat (over 18 months)

Swimmer's Ear (over 18 months)

Skin Condiitons:

Athlete's Foot (over 18 months)

Cold Sores (over 18 months)

Deer Tick (age 12 and up)

Impetigo (over 18 months)

Minor Burns (over 18 months)

Minor Skin Infections and Rashes (over 18 months)

MInor Sunburn (over 18 months)

Poison Ivy (ages 3 and up)

Ringworm (over 18 months)

Wart Removal (ages 5 and up)

The Minute Clinic also provides most vaccines for individuals over 18 months old. Additional services available include: flu shots, flu diagnosis, mononucleosis testing, pregnancy testing, and suture removal. Camp and school physicals may be available at select areas only. A list of prices are available on their website, starting at $59. or cost of co-pay.