Walgreens plans on opening primary care clinics in around 700 US stores in the next couple of years as part of a key expansion of care it offers to its customers.
On Wednesday, the company said that it’ll collaborate with VillageMD in order to develop the care clinics that will be led by doctors and also have social workers, therapists and nurses to offer regular treatment to the patients.
The drugstore chain will be redesigning stores where the clinics will be set up, narrow down their shelves as well as pull items such as tobacco and a few other grocery products to make space.
Drugstores such as Walgreens and competitor CVS Health Corporation generally tuck the small healthcare clinics in their stores for treating minor ailments or offer flu shots. However, last fall Walgreens said that it was about to shut down nearly 40 percent of these clinics.
The retailer has been searching for ways to offer much better care, said Alex Gourlay, executive, Walgreens.
Gourlay noted that the care clinics would make it simpler for the pharmacists to perform their duties along with the doctors and ensure medicines do not conflict or help describe prescriptions to the patients.
The primary care clinics will be recruiting doctors who have patients already and will concentrate on looking after those suffering from chronic diseases.
