When CVS Caremark announced that it would no longer sell cigarettes, it was obviously big news. But the decision by the national chain is just another step in a direction retail pharmacies have been moving in over the last few years.
The healthcare industry’s transformation to value-based models has spurred retail pharmacies to expand their roles and traditional providers to partner with them.
[See also: Hospitals adding retail clinics ]
Retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens have been adding more services, like retail clinics, to reinvent themselves as part of the healthcare provider environment.
For traditional healthcare providers, cooperating with these retail clinics offers opportunities to attract new patients and to help coordinate care of their existing patients with chronic conditions.
“We understand that 40 percent of consumers who use retail pharmacies, such as Walgreens, don’t have a primary care physician,” said Kit Brekhus, MD, physician director and membership chair, Colorado Health Neighborhoods, a clinically-integrated network created by Centura Health that incorporates working with the retail clinics in 16 Walgreens within the area. “Through our clinical affiliation agreement, we are connecting these consumers to a primary care physician.”
The partnership with a retail pharmacy reduces fragmented care and delivers a more seamless experience for the patient with clinics available evenings and weekends and enables the network to serve more people, he said.
The clinic’s nurse practitioners support and communicate with the Colorado Health Neighborhoods in a team approach to medicine with a focus on prevention and wellness services, health screenings and testing. When needed, consumers can make an appointment with their Colorado Health Neighborhoods provider or with a specialist at a Walgreens clinic.
“The result is more people get the right care, at the right time, in the right place, at an affordable price,” Brekhus said.
Walgreens CFO, Wade Miquelon, told shareholders at a recent meeting that the company’s retail clinics, branded as Healthcare Clinics, have begun offering diagnosis and treatment of asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, in addition to acute care, prevention and wellness, and monitoring and disease management services. One of the company’s goals is to build strategic partnerships with physicians, health insurance companies, hospital systems and large employers.
“These four chronic disease states alone drive a high percentage of healthcare costs in the country, and we now offer a cost effective solution to patients and payers,” he said in a news release.
CVS Caremark’s recent decision to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products – one of the leading causes of preventable deaths – is just one in a string of moves by the chain as it puts continued emphasis on its role as a healthcare provider.
CVS plans to double its 800 MinuteClinics over the next three years, said Troyen Brennan, MD, CVS executive vice president and chief medical officer. CVS has 7,600 retail pharmacies, which makes it easy for customers to locate and use the MinuteClinics. “For the average person, 80 percent of their contact with the healthcare system is through the pharmacy,” he said at a recent conference.
The MinuteClinic nurse practitioners conduct customer health risk assessments and can share the data electronically with providers and health plans to determine the patient’s appropriate risk adjustment.
Every MinuteClinic has a relationship with a number of primary care practices and work closely with doctors in a medical home. “We can do a number of things that are adjunctive that can be helpful for the primary care doctor and the insurer,” Brennan said. “The important thing is that the clinic can electronically share information with them.”
CVS also conducts Project Health, an effort aimed at low income and uninsured individuals to provide biometric testing and advising, and which also offers information about ACA exchange enrollment.
“We do it because it draws people into our stores,” Brennan said. “It shows that we can be an ally for their healthcare.”