Content about Primary care

“It’s time to unlock the gates to the primary care club” and allow nurse practitioners to practice to the full extent of their education and training. That was a key message of a physician-authored article in Slate magazine.

Retail clinic operator Take Care Clinics, which is owned by Walgreens, is expanding the scope of services within its 300-plus clinics to include management for chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma and others, as well as additional preventive health services.

Game on! With the increasing shift to chronic care services, expect retail clinics to ramp up even quicker, creating new, more profitable revenue streams and filling huge gaps in care that save payers some serious money. The writing isn't just on the wall. It's printed in big, bold colors like graffiti on a 1970s NYC subway car.

Three bills that were introduced in California would recognize pharmacists as healthcare providers and would enable pharmacists, nurse practitioners and optometrists to practice to the full extent of their education and training.

The reality is that industry observers can expect to see more states considering similar measures as they all prepare a roadmap to lower costs by allowing pharmacists and NPs to practice at the top of their professions.

MinuteClinic president and SVP/associate chief medical officer of CVS Caremark, Andrew Sussman, traveled to London this week to discuss how MinuteClinic is improving care and access at substantially lower cost, the company has announced.

MinuteClinic and Greenville Hospital System — South Carolina's largest health system, with five medical campuses, outpatient and specialty centers and a large network of physician practices — have entered into a clinical affiliation to enhance access to healthcare services in upstate South Carolina.

Take Care Health Systems, which is owned by Walgreens, has formed a clinical collaboration with Community Health Network to improve access to care for patients throughout central Indiana.

CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic and Barnabas Health in New Jersey have signed a clinical collaboration to enhance access to healthcare services in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

With health reform and health cost imperatives driving the need to find alternative, community-based ways to deliver more cost-effective follow-up care, the retail clinic model could be poised for a new round of rapid growth.


Who needs the services of community pharmacists and the nurse practitioners who staff retail-based walk-in clinics and ambulatory care centers? Among others, the nearly 67 million Americans underserved by primary care physicians.

More than 80 RediClinic employees and their families lost a total of 700 lbs. while participating in a companywide competition modeled after its Weigh Forward weight loss program.

Experience will make these providers better coaches for patients who sign up for the program. Aside from putting Rediclinic in place to battle one of the most chronic conditions in America — obesity — it also is creating important bonds between patients and practitioners.

CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic and UT Medicine San Antonio, the academic medical practice of the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, have entered into a clinical affiliation to enhance access to healthcare services in the region.

A new Rand Corp. study examining the impact of retail medical clinics on the receipt of primary medical care found mixed evidence about whether the clinics may disrupt doctor-patient relationships.