These barriers impededand eventually assisted kill or drive into the arms of a competitortwo companies that provided ingenious health care services directly to customers. Health Stop was a venture capitalfinanced chain of easily located, no-appointment-needed health care centers in the eastern and midwestern U.S. for patients who were seeking quick medical treatment and did not require hospitalization.Think who won? The community physicians bad-mouthed Health Stop's quality of care and its faceless corporate ownership, while the health centers argued in the media that their emergency spaces could not survive without revenue from the reasonably healthy patients whom Health Stop targeted. The criticism tarnished the chain in the eyes of some clients.