Walgreens Healthcare Clinic invests in continuum of care

Walgreens has worked to make community clinics a cornerstone of the American health care system. Since opening its first clinics in the early 2000s, the pharmacy has slowly added more company-owned, walk-in health centers and teamed up with established clinic operators to put clinics in Walgreen stores in certain markets. According to Walgreens Healthcare Clinic chief medical officer Pat Carroll, by collaborating with other health care providers, Walgreens is helping drive the transition of the community health clinic model from one providing urgent, episodic care to one offering more coordinated care. A key part of that coordination has come from Walgreens’ use of the Epic electronic health record platform that went into effect earlier this year. “This state-of-the-industry EHR enables seamless communication with health systems and local providers, and gives us enhanced capabilities to deliver better health outcomes through greater care coordination and interoperability,” Carroll said. “As our clinics play an increasingly important role in health care—supporting the health care system, provider practices and patients’ medical homes—care coordination can be critical.”

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