How can one apply retail industry concepts to the healthcare industry?
I don't want answers that refer exclusively to "retail clinics" such as Minute
Clinic or similar organizations.
My interest is in how retail expertise can be brought to a healthcare
company, such as a hospital, lab or medical office. Are there examples
of healthcare companies that have organized around retail industry
concepts?
By retail expertise I mean how retail companies view consumers and
products, how are they structured and run.

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Clarification of Question by dd3ck3r-ga on 06 Sep 2006 13:55 PDT

What I need is pointers to journal articles or white papers that refer
to healthcare retailing (but not retail clinics).
You can retail physical products (as in a supermarket), services (as a
financial services company) or personal services (haircuts or
healthcare are examples).
Typical retail industry concepts such as inventory rotation or
shelf-life can't be directly translated to the personal services 
including the healthcare industry, but there may be some relation of
healthcare industry-specific concepts and terms to retail
industry-specific concepts and terms I am not aware of.