VIAGRA NEWS

Source: Chicago Tribune

Date: 17-May-2007

Author: Bruce Japsen

Moving to quickly establish a national presence in the suddenly hot retail clinic business, pharmacy giant Walgreen Co. on Wednesday said it will acquire clinic developer Take Care Health Systems.

The Deerfield-based drugstore chain had already been working with Take Care to open clinics, but is buying the Pennsylvania-based company to ramp up the rollout of in-store clinics in the wake of competition from other retailers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Several retailers and grocery chains, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., also are putting clinics in their stores as a way to provide an inexpensive alternative to doctor's office visits for the uninsured and a convenient one-stop health shop for people short on time.

With the acquisition, Walgreens said it will be able to accelerate installation of clinics in its stores. It now plans to have more than 400 of its Health Corner brand clinics operating by the end of 2008. That would put Walgreens ahead of Wal-Mart.

Just last month, Wal-Mart announced plans to open as many as 400 such clinics in U.S. stores in the next three years and possibly 2,000 within five to seven years. And last year, CVS/Caremark Corp. bought Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic, which has 175 locations, including a half-dozen newly opened clinics in its Chicago-area pharmacies.

"This is about speed to market and getting these into the communities that need them," said Greg Moerschel, partner with Chicago private-equity firm Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Co., which is the majority stakeholder in Take Care, in an interview Wednesday afternoon. "Walgreens will take this concept very far and it will be worthwhile for them and the consumer. This is all about getting a national footprint."

Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Co. and affiliated investors became Take Care's majority owner a year ago by committing $77 million to the Conshohocken, Pa.-based company. Beecken Petty so far has invested $35 million, the firm said.

Currently, Walgreens has 59 of its Health Corner brand clinics in its stores, including 17 in the Chicago area, and the bulk of them were developed by Take Care.

The Take Care model is largely focused on "high traffic" retail pharmacies and has also linked with Walgreens rivals such as Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy, which has 10 retail clinics in the Pittsburgh area.

Walgreens clinics are staffed by advanced-degree nurses known as nurse practitioners who treat patients for common illnesses such as strep throat, ear and sinus infections, and other routine maladies.

Prices for such services range from $59 to $74 for people without medical coverage, Walgreens said, although out-of-pocket costs can fall to that of a typical doctor's office co-payment of $20 or less given that an increasing number of health plans cover retail clinic treatments, insurers say.

"Together, we'll create a model of how health care is provided across America," Walgreens President Gregory Wasson said in a press release.

Founded in 2004, Take Care is among the many health-care companies joining the trend of providing vaccinations, screenings and treatments, usually administered by a nurse practitioner in a retail setting. Retailers are counting on the clinics to boost prescription sales and spur customer loyalty.

The concept has not been without controversy. The American Medical Association, the nation's largest doctors group, and state medical societies have pushed for more scrutiny of retail walk-in clinics.

The Illinois State Medical Society is pushing a bill that would require, among other things, that clinic developers face more regulation, including the need for a permit before opening a retail clinic.