USA TODAY International Edition
Walgreens to staff stores with doctors
The doctor will see you now ... at Walgreens.
Walgreens plans to staff 500 to 700 of its stores with primary care doctors in the next five years in a partnership with medical services provider VillageMD.
The company, which has nearly 9,300 locations in the U. S., announced the plan Wednesday morning, saying it also would invest in VillageMD.
It will open the primary care clinics under the brand Village Medical at Walgreens. The clinics will be spread out among more than 30 markets, with more than half in locations that are underserved by medical professionals.
Walgreens’ rival CVS has invested in its own in- store clinical services brand called MinuteClinic, which is offered at about 1,100 locations.
CVS also is opening up to 1,500 HealthHUB locations that will include MinuteClinic services. Both companies have opened free COVID- 19 testing sites outside some of their stores.
Walgreens had opened roughly 400 walk- in clinics staffed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants, but last year announced plans to close the locations it ran on its own.
Today, there are about 230 walk- in clinics remaining, and those will remain open.
Facing retail competition from online threats and big- box discounters, both CVS and Walgreens are trying to diversify their businesses by building upon their reputation as trusted providers of medicine and betting on their physical locations.
Nearly 4 in 5 Americans live within 5 miles of a Walgreens store or one of its other brands, including Duane Reade, while about 7 in 10 Americans live within 3 miles of a CVS.
Walgreens is the first of the two to have doctors in its stores, which will accept health insurance and will be paired with 24/ 7 availability of telehealth appointments. The Village Medical at Walgreens clinics are “focused on building long- term relationships between patients and board- certified physicians to help support preventive and chronic care management needs,” Walgreens said in a statement. CVS’ MinuteClinic is staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Alex Gourlay, global co- chief operating officer of the chain’s parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, said the plan reflects an effort to “reimagine the drugstore” by improving access to doctors and pairing them with pharmacists to improve patient care.
Gourlay said the model may eventually go beyond 500 to 700 stores.
Walgreens and VillageMD tested the model in five locations in the Houston area beginning last fall before deciding to expand it nationwide.