These barriers impededand ultimately helped eliminate or drive into the arms of a competitortwo companies that offered ingenious health care services straight to customers. Health Stop was a venture capitalfinanced chain of conveniently located, no-appointment-needed healthcare centers in the eastern and midwestern U.S. for patients who were looking for fast medical treatment and did not need hospitalization.Guess who won? The community physicians bad-mouthed Health Stop's quality of care and its faceless business ownership, while the hospitals argued in the media that their emergency clinic could not survive without profits from the fairly healthy clients whom Health Stop targeted. The criticism tarnished the chain in the eyes of some clients.