Have a sore throat? Go see the doctor… in your office

It's déjà vu all over again--- only this time, you're not visiting your school nurse. (And you're not 10 years old anymore.)

You're visiting the doctor in the clinic in your office.

Yes, you read right.

According to The New York Times article, "Company Clinics Cut Health Costs" more than 10% of the country's 1,000 largest employers offer primary care or preventative health services on their premises. And by the end of this year, it is expected this will increase to 25%.

Why are companies doing this?

Well, for many reasons- added benefits for the employees, more loyalty from their employees, etc. But (realistically) the most important reason is because it is cost effective. Imagine, for some companies it is more cost effective to have a clinic inside their offices to try to prevent their employees from serious illness than to have to pay high insurance premiums every time an employee goes to their private doctor (not to mention the loss of productivity). Some of these clinics have programs for weight loss or to stop smoking. Why take time off from work just to get your prescription refilled or for a minor concern, such as getting a flu shot or a sore throat? Now you can just go down the hall.

However, we must warn you that these clinics should not take the place of your primary care physician. Your primary care physician should be someone who knows you for years and has your full medical history -- though with PHRs being such a hot topic, this may change (Adam Bosworth, a VP at Google, spoke about creating a "health URL" in his speech in December at the PHR conference in Washington.) S/he should know you well enough that if there is something out of the ordinary, s/he will detect it. Besides, your primary care physician will still be your physician even if you change employers.

Either way, having a clinic is not a bad idea. In fact, it's a very good idea.