CVS MinuteClinic adds four new health care providers as affiliates

CVS CAREMARK CORP. and its MinuteClinic branch have affiliated with four health care providers in Connecticut, Texas, South Carolina and Louisiana to coordinate on clinical care and integrate electronic medical records. Above, nurse practitioner Corissa Pond enters patient data at a MinuteClinic in a Seekonk CVS/pharmacy. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL PERSSON
CVS CAREMARK CORP. and its MinuteClinic branch have affiliated with four health care providers in Connecticut, Texas, South Carolina and Louisiana to coordinate on clinical care and integrate electronic medical records. Above, nurse practitioner Corissa Pond enters patient data at a MinuteClinic in a Seekonk CVS/pharmacy. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL PERSSON

WOONSOCKET – CVS Caremark Corp. has entered new clinical affiliations with four major health care providers to improve access to clinical support, medication counseling, chronic disease monitoring and wellness programs at CVS/pharmacy stores and MinuteClinic.

The collaborating providers – ProHealth Physicians in Connecticut, Texas Health Resources in Texas, Palmetto Health in South Carolina and The Baton Rouge Clinic in Louisiana – will work with MinuteClinic nurse practitioners on joint clinical programs and help coordinate care for patients.

In addition, MinuteClinic, CVS/pharmacy and the four participating health care providers will work toward integrating their electronic medical record systems to streamline communication around all aspects of a patient’s care and improve medication adherence. MinuteClinic will also electronically share medical histories and visit summaries with a patient’s primary care physician if the physician is a member of a participating provider.

“Finding cost-effective ways to increase access to care continues to be important, especially in this era of health care reform, and we are pleased to work together with these health care providers to help coordinate comprehensive care for their patients,” said Dr. Troyen A. Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Caremark. “Through these clinical affiliations, we will also be integrating our electronic medical records and information systems to enable us to support patients with medication counseling and chronic disease monitoring.”

- Advertisement -

With the addition of ProHealth Physicians, Texas Health Resources, Palmetto Health and The Baton Rouge Clinic, CVS Caremark and MinuteClinic now affiliate with a total of 40 major health systems and health care providers across the country.

CVS/pharmacy currently operates more than 7,600 retail pharmacy locations in the United States where CVS pharmacists provide medication counseling to patients. Of the 7,600 retail pharmacy locations, more than 800 offer MinuteClinic walk-in medical clinics, which are open seven days a week with no appointment necessary and are staffed by nurse practitioners.

In May, the R.I. Department of Health approved CVS Caremark’s application to the first seven MinuteClinic facilities in Rhode Island. CVS plans to add 150 new clinics nationwide this year and 1,500 clinics by 2017.

No posts to display