Experts say these retailers are picking a
ripe target for their care expansions since
a lot of health care spending is focused on
chronic diseases like diabetes. But they face
competition because many doctors offices are
expanding the help they offer.
And stores like Walgreens also may be
challenged in getting patients used to visiting
their locations regularly for care, said Dr. Ateev
Mehrotra, a Harvard Medical School professor
who researches health care delivery.
“I think there’s an inherent uphill battle in
convincing patients they should go to a store
for their primary care,” he said, noting that this
could be especially challenging with older
patients who account for most adult primary
care visits.
Walgreens and VillageMD tested their clinics in
the Houston market and plan to expand there,
as well as Phoenix.
Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens Boots
Alliance Inc. runs more than 9,200 stores in the
United States. It expects to open 500 to 700
primary care clinics in 30 markets in the next
five years.
Walgreens said in a release that it intends to
build “hundreds more” after that. It will aim
to put the clinics in areas that may have a
shortage of primary care doctors or an older-
than-usual population.
The company runs thousands of stores in
other countries too, but officials said they
were not planning to expand their primary
care clinics internationally.