WOONSOCKET, R.I. — MinuteClinic has entered a clinical collaboration with Indiana University Health (IU Health), the largest health system in Indiana.
The CVS Caremark Corp. retail health clinic subsidiary said Thursday that through the affiliation, IU Health doctors will serve as medical directors for 19 MinuteClinic locations, including 17 in the Indianapolis area and one each in Bloomington and West Lafayette, Ind. Signs at those MinuteClinics will inform patients that each site has a clinical affiliation with IU Health.
In addition, MinuteClinic and IU Health will collaborate on patient education and disease management initiatives and inform patients of the services each offers. IU Health also will accept patients who need a level of care that’s not provided at MinuteClinic.
MinuteClinic has 21 walk-in clinics open seven days a week inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in Indiana, while IU Health includes ownership or affiliation with more than 20 hospitals and health centers throughout the state.
"As we continue to expand the number of clinics and services we offer in the Hoosier state, MinuteClinic shares a common goal with IU Health to make basic medical care more accessible to patients in locations near where they live and work," stated MinuteClinic president Andrew Sussman, who’s also senior vice president/associate chief medical officer at CVS Caremark. "We are excited to be collaborating with IU Health as we mark our 11th clinical affiliation with a regional health system in the United States."
Plans call for MinuteClinic and IU Health to begin to work toward integrating their electronic medical record (EMR) systems to streamline communication around all aspects of a patient’s care, enabling MinuteClinic to share medical histories and visit summaries with other IU Health locations in Indiana.
"This partnership supports our mission of improving and protecting the health of our patients and Indiana communities," John Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of IU Health Physicians, said in a statement. "Through our collaboration with MinuteClinic, we will complement the role of primary care physicians by offering another convenient access point to high quality, affordable medical care during off-hours and weekends."
In recent months, MinuteClinic has announced a series of clinical affiliations, including with the Henry Ford Health System (southeastern Michigan), Cleveland Clinic Florida (Florida), OhioHealth (central Ohio), Inova Health System (northern Virginia), Advocate Health Care and Advocate Physician Partners (Chicago and central Illinois), and St. Rose Dominican Hospitals (Las Vegas and southern Nevada).
Overall, MinuteClinic has nearly 600 locations in 26 states and the District of Columbia.
