Retail Clinics

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. Take Care Health Systems has announced that it now is offering free blood pressure screenings at all of its 359 Take Care Clinics nationwide through May 31.

SILVER SPRING, Md. The Food and Drug Administration will start phasing out asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease inhalers that contain ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons in less than two months, the agency announced Tuesday.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. New healthcare legislation, the aging U.S. population and a shortage of primary care physicians will equal significant growth for CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic business. In fact, the clinic operator is looking to double its number of in-store clinics within five years, according to a Bloomberg report.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. Some patients stop taking their prescribed medications because they think it interferes with personal priorities or compromises social aspects of their lives, according to the results of a CVS Caremark study.

To examine why some patients who said they want to be adherent to their medications still stop taking them, CVS Caremark enlisted psychologists and selected Minds at Work of Cambridge, Mass., to conduct a study.

ST. LOUIS Vaccines likely would work better in protecting children from flu if they included both strains of influenza B instead of just one, a St. Louis University press report stated last week, citing research conducted through its Center for Vaccine Development.

BUFFALO, W.Va. Take Care Health Systems has expanded its partnership with Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia by managing a new on-site healthcare center at Toyota's Buffalo, W.Va., plant, according to reports.

The employer-based clinic, operated by Take Care Health Systems, will provide acute, episodic, urgent and occupational care, as well as wellness, prevention and disease management services. According to reports, the automaker invested about $150,000 in the 1,000-sq.-ft. clinic.

NEW YORK In an effort to further expand its retail-based clinic business, Walgreens' Take Care Health Systems reportedly is considering financial joint ventures with hospitals, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

"We're getting a lot of interest from hospital systems," Take Care Health Systems CEO Peter Miller told Down Jones Newswires in an interview.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine underscored the importance of medication adherence and its ability to lower costs and improve the lives of patients.