Providence health clinics to open in Washington, Oregon Walgreens stores

Walgreens and Providence Health & Services said on Thursday that they have formed a strategic clinical collaboration directed at improving patient care and access.

Through the collaboration, Walgreens and Providence plan to bring up to 25 new retail clinics to Oregon and Washington. The clinics will be owned and operated by Providence and its affiliates, and become the first to open at Walgreens stores under a new collaborative-services model.

“This is a reflection of our efforts to develop deeper and more strategic relationships with our health system partners,” Jeff Koziel, Walgreens' group vice president for Healthcare Clinics, said. “Collaboration among providers is key in today’s health care environment to help ensure continuity of patient care and to provide greater convenience and access for patients. We look forward to working with Providence to expand the retail clinic footprint at Walgreens and to help manage patients for both pharmacy and medical needs.”

Providence Express Care at Walgreens will provide an integrated health care option for patients with a known provider, while helping to expand the retail clinic model from urgent episodic care to more coordinated care.

“Accessing quality health care should be convenient and simple,” Mike Waters, senior vice president of physician services at Providence, said. “We believe this collaboration is a solution for health care providers to better serve populations. With Walgreens' nationwide footprint and deep understanding of patients’ needs, together we can ease the way for consumers and ultimately create healthier communities.”

Walgreens and Providence will open three clinics in the Portland and Seattle areas in early 2016, with plans for further expansion within the next two years.