When Doctors Care opened its first office in Columbia in 1981, it was decades ahead of its time. The company likes to say it was "disruptive" of the long-standing medical delivery model. In the past decade, and especially in the past three years, what was once out-of-the-ordinary has become a major category referred to as "retail medicine." Just look around the Midlands for evidence. In Richland and Lexington counties, there are 11 Doctors Care offices, eight CVS MinuteClinics and three MEDcare Urgent Care offices. The hospitals jumped on the bandwagon several years ago, realizing their emergency rooms were overwhelmed with people who needed timely, but not necessarily true emergency, care.
