Retail Clinics

BOSTON — Could retail-based health clinics be coming soon to Boston?

While it appears that there are no definite plans in the works, a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh reportedly said that he has no intention of blocking the clinics from coming to Boston, the Boston Herald reported.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. and RADNOR, Pa. — CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic and Main Line Health have signed a clinical collaboration to enhance access to high-quality healthcare services at MinuteClinic locations in southeastern Pennsylvania.

SEATTLE — Bartell Drugs is celebrating healthy and beautiful living during its Spring Health & Beauty Event, being held now at Bartell locations in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Between March 2 and 15, activities at selected locations will include health clinics, free beauty “mini makeover” demonstrations and hair styling tips by Conair, and product samples ranging from cosmetics to dental care.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Little Clinic, which operates 114 retail-based health clinics in seven states, has selected VisualDx, a mobile app and online resource used by doctors to diagnose and treat disease, to enhance the care its staff provides to patients, VisualDx maker Logical Images announced.

The Little Clinic, which is a subsidiary of Kroger, has clinics inside Kroger stores in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio; King Soopers in Colorado, Fry’s Food Stores in Arizona and JayC in Indiana.

NEW YORK — A three-year pilot of a “medical home” model of primary care yielded few improvements in quality and cost of health care, according to a new Rand study.

Evaluating one of the nation's earliest and largest multi-payer medical home pilots, researchers found that most participating primary care practices achieved recognition as medical homes, but the quality of care improved significantly for only 1-of-11 widely used quality measures.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri Health Care and grocer Hy-Vee have announced plans to open walk-in medical clinics at all three Hy-Vee stores in Columbia, Mo. Construction of the Mizzou Quick Care clinics will begin in mid-March.

The clinics at 25 Conley Road and 405 E. Nifong Blvd. are slated to open by Aug. 1, and the clinic at 3100 W. Broadway is slated for completion by Oct.1.

NEW YORK — Retail-based health clinics not only work closely with local physicians and pediatricians but are also a more convenient option for parents with sick children rather than the alternative, which is often spending hours in the emergency room or waiting for an appointment with their doctor. That’s a key message that the Convenient Care Association is looking to convey in response to news that the American Academy of Pediatrics is advising parents against using retail-based health clinics.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic has announced that it is switching from its own proprietary electronic medical record solution to Epic’s EpicCare system.

"EpicCare's rich platform will allow us to continue to provide the highest quality of care and advance our services through a robust, world class EMR," said Andrew Sussman, president of MinuteClinic and SVP/associate chief medical officer of CVS Caremark.