Retail Clinics

Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens will be introducing the first implementations of its new store format later this spring, or in early summer, executives said Monday night at the 36th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The new format will mark the first major overhaul of the core Walgreens format since the finalization of its merger with Alliance Boots in December 2014.

Another year, another pending merger that promises to shake up the retail pharmacy business as we know it. Only, unlike the scrapped merger between Walgreens and Rite Aid, CVS Health’s proposed acquisition of health insurer Aetna has the potential to upend the whole healthcare landscape, putting it in competition with other retailers on one front and with leading insurers on another.

The latest has been reported upon in Walgreens Flu Index. The weekly report which was developed to provide state and market-specific information regarding flu activity has all signs pointing to Texas once again.

For the second week in a row, The Flu Index is reporting that the Lone Star state is holding the top spot for flu activity for the week ending Dec. 16.

Walgreens is making a push to bring telemedicine services to stores through a new partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian. The partnership will bring access to telehealth services from New York’s top hospital via NYP OnDemand kiosks for shoppers at the Deerfield, Ill.-based retailer’s Duane Reade banner, as well as through its digital properties.

With flu season set to kick into gear soon, CVS Health is marking National Influenza Vaccination Week by reminding patients to get their flu shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the week of awareness to remind patients to get vaccinated. The Woonsocket, R.I.-based company recently ran a survey that found that 61% of patients get a flu vaccine every year, or plan to get one this year.

PHOENIX — FastMed Urgent Care on Thursday named Web Golinkin as its new CEO. In this capacity, he will lead FastMed's large and growing portfolio of walk-in urgent care health clinics located across Arizona, Texas and North Carolina.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — As Florida’s Broward County sees an uptick in hepatitis A cases, CVS Health is encouraging patients in the area to get vaccinated. So far this year, the county has seen 34 cases of hepatitis A — an increase over the typical seven cases annually, according to the Florida Department of Health.

CVS Health said its 10 MinuteClinic locations in Broward County are stocked with the hepatitis A vaccine, and the vaccine is available at its 76 CVS Pharmacy locations in the county on a walk-in basis.