HMA's Emergency Room Pain

Hospital chains that rely heavily on their emergency rooms for business, like rural operator Health Management Associates (HMA Quote), could encounter a new crisis.

Now, those companies face mounting competition from not only physician-owned outpatient facilities, but also from in-store health clinics operated by giant retailers like CVS (CVS Quote) and Wal-Mart (WMT Quote).

The new mini clinics offer cheap and rapid treatment for patients who, seeking after-hours care, might have chosen expensive E.R. services in the past. As a result, the clinics could start attracting some of the very customers that hospitals like the most: E.R. patients who require little treatment and actually pay their bills. ...