Cleveland Clinic to staff CVS clinics

Cleveland Clinic has joined forces with MinuteClinic to staff clinics inside several northeast Ohio CVS/pharmacy stores.

“This relationship will demonstrate a true continuity-of-care model in northeast Ohio,” said David Bronson, MD, chair of the Clinic's Medicine Institute. “Consumers today want access, affordability, and coordinated care at all levels. This collaboration with MinuteClinic enhances this innovative solution and addresses those needs while providing quality medical care for acute minor illnesses.”

By the end of 2009, the collaboration will include nine locations in northeast Ohio, each staffed by a MinuteClinic nurse practitioner with clinical consultation provided by a medical director appointed by the Cleveland Clinic. The first location will be in Chagrin Falls at 16801 Chillicothe Rd., with the rest to follow throughout the year.

Signs inside and outside the stores will notify customers that each site is collaborating with Cleveland Clinic. As part of the collaboration, Cleveland Clinic and MinuteClinic will fully integrate their electronic medical records (EMR) systems to “streamline communication around all aspects of a patient’s care,” according to the Cleveland Clinic’s Web site.

Each Cleveland Clinic-affiliated MinuteClinic will have access (with patient consent) to a patient’s Cleveland Clinic MyChart electronic medical record – which includes medical history, prescriptions, treatments, and health-maintenance information.

At the request of MinuteClinic patients who have been treated at other Cleveland Clinic-affiliated locations in Northeast Ohio, MinuteClinic will be able to share information with those locations via the MinuteClinic EMR.

“We are pleased to be working with one of the leading medical institutions in the United States to expand access to basic healthcare needs in the Cleveland community,” said Chip Phillips, MinuteClinic president.