Hospitals and health systems are increasingly finding that collaborating with a pharmacy has its benefits.
CVS Health and Cleveland Clinic figured that out long ago. For eight years, they have been working together to assist patients in Ohio and Florida. And to that end, they have expanded their existing clinical affiliation.
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Now, Cleveland Clinic, CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic (the retail clinic of CVS Health) will boost their offerings and start to create clinical programs to address issues like population health and patient medication management. Additionally, they will work toward streamlining communication through their EHR systems.
CVS Health has also joined the Cleveland Clinic Quality Alliance, a clinically integrated network focusing on chronic disease management.
Sharon Vitti, senior vice president and executive director of MinuteClinic, highlighted these new additions to the clinical collaboration. “By expanding and enhancing our affiliation, we will broaden electronic communication between providers in both organizations and leverage population health data to help improve the health outcomes and reduce the cost of care for the patients we serve,” she said in a statement.
The phenomenon of health systems and pharmacies teaming up isn’t unique.
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Earlier this year, Walgreens and Tampa-based Florida Hospital unveiled plans to collaborate. But their relationship looks a little different from the one between CVS and Cleveland Clinic.
As part of their agreement, Florida Hospital said it will operate 15 clinics in Walgreens stores in the Tampa region. Plus, Walgreens plans to open a pharmacy at Florida Hospital Tampa. The two organizations also formed a collaborative council to tackle ways of improving care and quality.
Walgreens and the University of Miami Health System announced a similar joint effort last December.
As part of their collaboration, the University of Miami Health System said it will operate retail clinics in 17 Walgreens stores throughout southern Florida. Walgreens also opened pharmacies at three UM Health System facilities, including The Lennar Foundation Medical Center, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and University of Miami Hospital. To top it off, Walgreens gives 90-day retail prescription benefits and pharmacy services to UM employees and their families.
Even RediClinic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rite Aid, teamed up with a health system in recent months. In November 2016, RediClinic and Edison, New Jersey-based Hackensack Meridian Health launched a joint venture through which they partnered to open clinics in 10 Rite Aid pharmacies in New Jersey.
As healthcare continues to evolve, everyone is looking for ways to boost patient care while keeping costs in check. And health systems and pharmacies seem to have found that pairing up helps them do just that.
Photo: Nasco, Getty Images
