Walgreens Opens Up to 700 Doctors’ Clinics Across US Stores

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. recently announced it is adding offices of physicians to its hundreds of drugstores as the company targets to redefine its business "as a healthcare service."

Decelerating incomes from prescription medicines reportedly hit the most significant US pharmacy chain, and thus, it said it has partnered with the primary care provider, VillageMD.

According to The Intellectualist, the partnership is opening between 500 to 700 doctors' clinics in different sites of Walgreens across the United States in the next five years. 

Relatively, Walgreens is paying $1 billion to VillageMD inequity and liability, "in exchange for a 30-percent stake in their startup business." 

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Online Care

Walgreens and CVS Health Corp. compete to be the leading top treatment centers that seek expansion beyond smaller profits from the prescription medicines dominating their sales.

Essentially, adding primary care doctors will differentiate Walgreens from CVS. Such differentiation produces health care centers, which include consultations, laboratory tests for chronic illnesses, and medicine, but without doctors.

Internet-based sellers like Amazon.com, for one, have pulled consumers away from personal or face-to-face transactions in drugstores.

In addition, hospitals and insurers have extended clinic or bought physicians' practices, so more doctors of primary care are turning out to be employees of larger firms.

Essentiality of a Physician, Physically and Digitally

"We heard from patients that they trust their local doctor, and they don't like changing their doctor," said Alexander Gourlay, Walgreens co-chief operating officer. "It became clear that you have to have a primary care doctor as part of the model both physically and digitally."

The COVID-19 crisis has threatened pharmacies and physicians' practices as customers and patients stop visits for worries about being infected.

Consequently, Walgreens joined new advocacy, which encourages the public to go back to their health providers despite the presence and current threats of the pandemic.

In April, the sales of Walgreens dropped following an initial boost in demand a month before, when people in the US were stocking up on supplies at the start of quarantines and lockdowns.

VillageMD, on the other hand, saw a 20-percent decline in patients' visits for primary care during the pandemic. This was according to Tim Barry, the company's CEO and co-founder.

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Alliance to Drive Up Sales

Also, according to Walgreens, its partnership with VillageMD aims to increase both prescription and medical product sales as more and more patients and customers go to their hundreds of drugstores and clinics across all sites. 

According to reports, the added medical services also aim to provide "flat-free primary care," nevertheless, the cost of every visit to VillagemD office relies on the service rendered, as well as the insurance of the patient.

Furthermore, Walmart US health and wellness president, Sean Slovenski announced the firm's expansion of clinics across the 4,700 US stores of Walmart. 

Not everyone, though, is happy about the two companies' alliance. Critics have argued that Americans are not yet prepared to accept Walmart's drugstores as a trusted medical provider, especially when it comes to the treatment of complicated chronic illnesses.

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