Visitors who dropped in wanted to use Texas Medicaid coverage, which RediClinic did not accept.
RediClinic cut a deal with Aetna (nyse: AET - news - people ).
Inside the store, situated in the Woodlands, a northern exurb of Houston, he approaches the counter of RediClinic.
So far 60 employers, with 150, 000 insured workers in RediClinic's larger markets, have agreed to direct employees there.
When Walgreens bought Take Care last month, it booted RediClinic out of 16 Walgreens in the Atlanta area.
Patients arriving at RediClinic branches are given a pager, so that they can shop nearby until the clinic can see them.
"The current health care system is designed to treat a small number of complex cases, " says Webster Golinkin, the chief executive of RediClinic.
Golinkin wants RediClinic to remain independent of drug chains, saying it can prosper by picking the best markets and stores for its business.
Problem is, RediClinic got its start catering to the 7-Eleven crowd.
Golinkin closed RediClinic's two worst-performing outlets in poor, Spanish-speaking neighborhoods in 2006 and decided he would have better luck targeting time-pressed suburbanites with kids and insurance.
Two years later he joined RediClinic, then known as InterFit.
But this adds a new challenge: Now, in addition to trying to get space in Wal-Mart's best stores, RediClinic must pick markets that aren't dominated by HMOs that don't cover retail health care.
But this adds a new challenge: Now, in addition to trying to get space in Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people )'s best stores, RediClinic must pick markets that aren't dominated by HMOs that don't cover retail health care.
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