In anticipation of a post-reform surge in healthcare demand, Arizona's Catholic Healthcare West, a three-hospital system in Phoenix, Az., is teaming up with CVS Caremark-run MinuteClinic to enhance the region's continuum of care, reports The Phoenix Business Journal.
As the retail clinic leader announced earlier this month, the ties will not be financial. Rather, CHW doctors will serve as medical directors of MinuteClinic's 10 walk-in medical clinics inside select CVS pharmacy stores in the Phoenix area. Plans also call for eventual integration of electronic medical records among the facilities for patients who give their consent, says Dr. Andrew Sussman, MinuteClinic president.
The local medical community has expressed support for the affiliation. "We're really happy to see that MinuteClinic and CHW are taking steps together to ensure quality of care at convenience clinics," Dr. Corinne Bell, medical director of CMG CareToday and integrative medicine at Cigna Medical Group in Phoenix, told the newspaper.
MinuteClinic has similar agreements with Allina Health System in Minnesota and Cleveland Clinic in northeast Ohio, and is in talks to create more such collaborations throughout the country.
To learn more:
- Read this article in The Phoenix Business Journal