Partnerships keep retail clinic business healthy, growing

Drug Store News, Sept 8, 2008

While Rite Aid doesn't own a retail clinic operator, the chain still embraces the concept on a partner-by-partner / region-by-region basis. Most recently, Rite Aid opened four MedStar PromptCare clinics in Baltimore and Washington this past summer with clinic partner MedStar Health. That deal brings Rite Aid's total clinic count to 24.

"Our strategy has been quite a bit different than our competitors in that we really work to partner with local, well-recognized health providers," Mary Sammons, Rite Aid chairman, president and chief executive officer explained. "In this instance, [it] happens to be a physician-staffed clinic," Sammons said.

The MedStar PromptCare physicians will be credentialed by and have admitting privileges to MedStar Health's hospitals, including Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center in Washington, as well as Montgomery General Hospital in Montgomery County, Md., and Franklin Square Hospital Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Harbor Hospital, and Union Memorial Hospital, all of which are located in Baltimore.

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Earlier this year, Rite Aid opened its third Saint Alphonsus Express Care medical clinic in Caldwell, Idaho. "This third clinic is a great addition to the two Express Care clinics already located within area Rite Aid stores, and it offers services that complement the medication counseling and care provided by our pharmacists," said Mark de Bruin, Rite Aid executive vice president of three pharmacy, in making the announcement. While the clinics are staffed with nurse practitioners and physician assistants, those who need additional services can access, through referral, the Saint Alphonsus network of physicians, hospitals and other healthcare service providers.

Saint Alphonsus is a 387-licensed bed regional medical center serving people throughout southwestern Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Nevada.

Prior to all of that, Rite Aid already had signed a deal with Lindora, which features one of the leading medically-supervised weight-control programs in the nation, in 2006, marking one of its first forays into the retail clinic space. As part of that partnership, earlier this year Rite Aid developed weight-management tips and information, as well as the Rite Weight Plan, a step-by-step online weight-loss program available at www.riteaid.com designed to help a dieter lose 10 percent of his or her body weight in 10 weeks.

As part of that program, customers can visit any Rite Aid store nationwide and pick up the free materials, including a 12-page Healthy Weight Guide that includes information on the growing obesity epidemic and metabolic syndrome, helpful advice on weight management, a Body Mass Index calculator, tips on how to create a healthy diet, information on the importance of exercise and, compliments of Fitness magazine, an exercise routine.

Rite Aid's focus on weight management is part of its health-and-wellness platforms, which helps bridge the gap between the Rite Aid healthcare professional, pharmacist or retail clinician, and the front end.

Currently, Lindora operates nine health clinics across Southern California.

As part of its partnership with Lindora Medical Clinics, Rite Aid last year began selling Lindora-branded diet products across some 400 Rite Aid locations in Southern California. The items include a selection of protein bars, shakes, nutritional supplements, weight-loss program books, instructional DVDs and Lindora's "Weight Loss Starter Kit," all of which were previously only available online or through one of Lindora's weight-loss clinics.

Rite Aid has pursued a more conservative, "wait-and-see" strategy in partnering with regional operators, such as Lindora Health and Sutter Health in California, as opposed to acquiring a dedicated retail clinic operator, such as Walgreens did with Take Care Health or CVS Caremark with MinuteClinic.

"On the economics of clinics, for everybody, it's a difficult economic proposition," Sammons said. "Now, it may get better legs in the future, but right now it takes a significant number of patient visits today, and [consistent] patient visits, for even the larger clinic operators to make money," she said. And while there is the benefit of a prescription being written in the store, which is more likely to go to that store's pharmacy than anywhere else, those prescriptions still represent a small percentage of the overall business, Sammons said.