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CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Take Care Health Systems announced Thursday that through April 30, the retail clinic operator will be offering sports and camp physicals for $35. The physicals, regularly $60, are administered by board-certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants at select Walgreens locations.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — The Little Clinic has promoted Chance Cole to VP business development and processes, handling business-to-business and overall business development, process improvement and nonclinical training activities.

Cole joined the company in July 2010 as The Little Clinic manager of integration. Prior to accepting a position with The Little Clinic, he spent 20 years with Kroger as a store manager, Kroger coordinator, Kroger merchandising, retail operations manager and marketplace merchandising manager.

NEW YORK — Convenience and cost savings offered by retail-based health clinics are attractive to urban patients. Given sufficient cost savings, those urban patients are likely to seek care at such facilities, causing possible further growth and employment opportunities for nurse practitioners in these clinics, according to research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark's retail-based clinic operator, MinuteClinic, is experiencing exponential gains in utilization and posted a 22% increase in acute visits during the past year, Larry Merlo, CVS Caremark president and COO, told investors Wednesday during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — The Little Clinic has appointed Eileen Myers as director of prevention and health management. She will be responsible for leading the health-and-wellness initiatives and for overseeing the rollout of an expanded scope of services for the clinic operator.

HOUSTON — RediClinic has announced that it will open 20 new clinics inside H-E-B grocery stores across Texas, which will nearly double the number of RediClinics currently operating within H-E-B.

Eight clinics are slated to open across the Houston, Austin and San Antonio markets by the end of January. The three new San Antonio clinics will operate in affiliation with Methodist Healthcare System, San Antonio.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The fact that CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic was highlighted as an innovator of healthcare delivery by the World Economic Forum's Innovation Health Care Delivery Project is important on several fronts. Not only does the recognition further illustrate the important role that convenient care clinics are playing in U.S. health care, but perhaps even more importantly, this forum also was a global stage for the clinic operator.

NEW YORK The DR Doctor On-Premises Walk-In Medical Care clinics, which are located within select Duane Reade stores and are managed by Consumer Health Services, now will accept Medicare.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Retail pharmacy operators continue to expand their presence in the burgeoning market for retail-based walk-in clinics, and the services those convenient-care centers provide. And there’s growing evidence that the nation’s overwrought, cash-crunched healthcare system desperately needs those services in a time of dwindling resources, overworked primary care physicians and unsustainable cost hikes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Baptist Healthcare System, which operates a network of hospitals and other facilities throughout the state, is looking to expand the number of clinics it operates inside select Walmart locations, according to a local news report.

Baptist Healthcare System currently operates six Baptist Express Care clinics at six Walmart stores in the state.

According to Business First of Louisville, the healthcare system is looking to open 24 clinics in such areas as Middletown and Shelbyville, Nicholasville and Somerset, Ky.

SPANISH SPRINGS, Nev. Walmart and St. Mary's Medical Group will be opening on Oct. 18 a retail-based health clinic in Spanish Springs, Nev., according to a local news report.

The Clinic at Walmart will be located inside the Walmart at 5065 Pyramid Highway. This opening will mark the region's first retail clinic, according to the article.

It is the 90th such clinic for Walmart, which has in-store clinics in 21 states.