What retail clinic growth can teach us about patient demand. Threat or opportunity: retail clinic popularity is about convenience.

Access: It's one word that may ultimately reignite the expansion of retail medicine in 2014 and beyond. CVS Caremark has added 200 new clinics since 2011, with another 850 planned by 2017. While it's still too soon to predict a large-scale national expansion in clinic numbers, some experts believe their calling card--convenience--should be a consideration for every medical practice in the United States.