Cleveland Clinic, MinuteClinic to integrate medical records, streamline communication

CLEVELAND Cleveland Clinic and CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic have entered a clinical collaboration in northeast Ohio that will include the integration of their electronic medical records for streamlined communication around all aspects of a patient’s care.

“We are pleased to be working with one of the leading medical institutions in the United States to expand access to basic healthcare needs in the Cleveland community,” stated Chip Phillips, MinuteClinic president. “Through this agreement, Cleveland Clinic’s family physicians will serve as a valuable resource to our MinuteClinic nurse practitioners in Northeast Ohio and we look forward to collaborating with Cleveland Clinic on a range of patient education and preventive services.”

By the end of 2009, the collaboration will include nine locations in northeast Ohio, each one staffed by a MinuteClinic nurse practitioner with clinical consultation provided by a Cleveland Clinic Health System appointed medical director. The first location to implement this collaboration was Chagrin Falls, effective in January, with the rest to follow throughout the year. Signs inside and outside the stores will notify customers that each site is collaborating with Cleveland Clinic.

As part of the collaboration, Cleveland Clinic and MinuteClinic will fully integrate their electronic medical records systems. Each Cleveland Clinic-affiliated MinuteClinic will have access (with patient consent) to a patient’s Cleveland Clinic MyChart electronic medical record, which includes medical history, prescriptions, treatments and health maintenance information. At the patient’s request, MinuteClinic will share its patient information with other Cleveland Clinic-affiliated locations in northeast Ohio via the MinuteClinic EMR for MinuteClinic patients who have been treated in those locations.

If a MinuteClinic patient has an urgent medical need and they do not have an existing primary care physician, they will be provided options, which will include but will not be limited to, Cleveland Clinic-affiliated options.

Cleveland Clinic patients who contact the Nurse On Call service may be referred to MinuteClinic as one option for the treatment of minor illnesses.