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WOONSOCKET, R.I. — MinuteClinic, the retail clinic arm of CVS Health, has expanded its services and introduced a digital tool designed to make accessing those services more convenient for patients.
New medical services on offer at the more than 1,100 retail medical clinics that MinuteClinic operates in CVS Pharmacy and Target Corp. stores nationwide include treatment of sprains and strains, gout, joint pain, indigestion and heartburn, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
MinuteClinic is also expanding its women’s health and counseling services to include contraceptive care for women over age 18 (19 in some states).
To make wait times more manageable, meanwhile, MinuteClinic has introduced a new digital tool that allows patients to hold a place in line from their smartphones, computers or tablets. Patients can also view current wait times at the clinic they plan on visiting.
By entering the reason for their visit and providing an email address or phone number in MinuteClinic’s secure system, they can get a confirmation code, get reminder messages via email or text, and receive an estimated time to arrive at the clinic. Once at the selected clinic, they sign in at the kiosk, enter their confirmation code and are then ready to be seen as soon as the practitioner is available based on the order in which the confirmation was received.
The new system is available to patients visiting MinuteClinic locations inside CVS Pharmacy stores and Longs Drugs stores in Hawaii, and is scheduled to be expanded to Target-based clinics later this year.
“Since introducing the first store-based, walk-in clinics in 2000, MinuteClinic has consistently developed new ways to evolve its model to make health care services more convenient for today’s consumer,” Dr. Andrew Sussman, executive vice president and associate chief medical officer of CVS Health and president of CVS MinuteClinic, said in a statement. “We know patients are demanding added convenience as they interact with the health care system. The option to hold a place in line gives patients more choices and flexibility and will allow for prompt care when arriving at our clinics. We think of it as the ‘cure for the common wait.’ ”
