WOONSOCKET, R.I. — MinuteClinic has affiliated with St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in southern Nevada in a clinical alliance to enhance the health care services in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
The CVS Caremark Corp. retail health clinic subsidiary said Thursday that under the agreement, family doctors affiliated with St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, which are members of the Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) system, may serve as medical directors for MinuteClinics in the Las Vegas area. Also, MinuteClinic and St. Rose Dominican Hospitals will team up on patient education and disease management initiatives, as well as inform patients of the services each offers.
St. Rose Dominican Hospitals will accept patients who need a level of care not provided at MinuteClinic. Signs at MinuteClinic locations will inform patients that each site has a clinical collaboration with St. Rose Dominican Hospitals.
MinuteClinic said the collaboration is aimed at complementing the work of St. Rose’s primary care physicians by supporting their efforts in providing convenient and episodic care. Consumers without a primary care doctor will be given the opportunity to choose a physician through a resource list of primary care providers that includes, but is not limited to, St. Rose’s doctor referral network.
MinuteClinic has six walk-in clinics open seven days a week inside CVS/pharmacy stores throughout southern Nevada. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants staff the clinics to provide treatment for common family illnesses, administer wellness and prevention services, and provide health condition monitoring.
St. Rose Dominican Hospitals operates three hospitals in southern Nevada: the Rose de Lima and Siena Campuses in Henderson, and the San Martin Campus in Las Vegas. It joins four hospitals in the Phoenix metropolitan area as the second group of hospitals in CHW to affiliate with MinuteClinic.
"We are pleased to grow our relationship with CHW as we work with the teams at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals to improve access to high-quality, affordable medical services through our convenient retail clinics near where people live and work," stated Andrew Sussman, president of MinuteClinic and senior vice president and associate chief medical officer at CVS Caremark. "St. Rose Dominican Hospitals has served residents in southern Nevada for more than 60 years and has established an outstanding reputation for community service, clinical quality and care that complements MinuteClinic’s desire to make health care easier and more affordable for local residents."
Plans call for MinuteClinic and St. Rose Dominican Hospitals to begin work to fully integrate their electronic medical record systems to streamline communication surrounding all aspects of each individual’s care. With patient permission, each St. Rose Dominican Hospitals/MinuteClinic site will share medical history and visit summaries with other St. Rose Dominican hospitals and the patients’ primary care providers.
