Allina, MinuteClinic partner on services

Christopher Snowbeck

Oct. 30, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Allina Health System and MinuteClinic announced Thursday a nonfinancial partnership to collaborate on providing health services in the Twin Cities.

For Allina, a Minneapolis-based hospital and clinic operator, the decision represents a break from the practice of other hospitals in Minnesota that have responded to competition from store-based clinics by building their own retail health centers.

MinuteClinics tend to be staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants and they provide a limited set of 20 to 30 services. The clinics post their prices at the door, typically ranging from $50 to $70 per-service.

"Where we can partner rather than build more capacity, I think that's a good thing to do," said Dr. Bob Wieland, executive vice president with Allina Health System.

Owned by Rhode Island-based drugstore chain CVS (NYSE:CVS) Caremark, MinuteClinic operates some 500 retail health clinics in the U.S. including 24 in the Twin Cities. Based in Minneapolis, MinuteClinic opened its first outlet in 2000 and was purchased by CVS in 2006.

Many of the clinics are in CVS pharmacies. Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) also operates a number of retail clinics in its stores.

Under the agreement announced Thursday, Allina will provide medical oversight for local MinuteClinics. The parties agree to inform patients of each other's services and explore the development of new services in the market.

Finally, Allina and MinuteClinic will develop interfaces between their electronic medical

record systems.

Fairview Health System in Minneapolis operates Express Care clinics at Coborn's Superstores in Elk River, Princeton and Hastings. Fairview also has an Express Care Clinic in Minneapolis and provides physician oversight to Target clinics in Minnesota.

In February 2008, North Memorial Health Care in Robbinsdale bought a company that operated NOW Express Care retail clinic sites in Cub Foods stores. As of June 30, North Memorial operated 12 express-care sites.

Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at 651-228-5479.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0190-39291138