WBA speeds up investment in VillageMD to accelerate clinic openings
Walgreens Boots Alliance has accelerated its investment in VillageMD to support the hundreds of Village Medical at Walgreens clinics the companies plan to build by 2025. The effort, which originally involved a three-year, $1 billion investment equity-and-debt commitment alongside a $250 million upfront investment from WBA has been accelerated and Walgreens has completed a $750 million investment in VillageMD.
The move — the result of a renegotiation of the companies’ expanded partnership announced in July — is meant to increase the pace and scale of the rollout of the 600 to 700 Village Medical at Walgreens clinics that the companies said it would build over the next four years. The effort makes Walgreens the first national pharmacy chain to offer full-service primary care clinics c0located at its stores on a large scale.
“Walgreens is focused on creating the pharmacy of the future, providing a broad and meaningful range of high-quality, affordable healthcare services to our patients and customers,” said Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. “Through these conveniently located clinics at our neighborhood stores, we will uniquely integrate the pharmacist as a critical member of VillageMD’s multi-disciplinary care team to provide patients with personalized and coordinated care.”
In December, the companies said that the first 40 of the clinics would be opened in Texas, Arizona and Florida by the end of summer 2021. Many of the clinics are set to be located in medically underserved areas to address patients’ needs, including those of patients who may not have access to health care and are at greater risk of health disparities. The clinics will accept a range of health insurance options and care will be delivered in a variety of ways, including in-person and at home via Village Medical telehealth providers accessed through the Walgreens Find Care platform.
“Together with Walgreens, we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing accessible, coordinated primary care in more communities nationwide,” said Tim Barry, chairman and CEO at VillageMD. “Village Medical at Walgreens offers a full continuum of care to meet patients’ needs with a physician-led team of experienced providers. Our high-tech, high-touch model delivers exceptional and personal care to more patients at a time when coordinated primary care is most critical.”