CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) announced today it has entered into new clinical affiliations with two leading health care organizations, Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Kansas and Lehigh Valley Health Network in Pennsylvania. These affiliations will help enhance access to high-quality, affordable health care services for patients. Through these clinical affiliations, CVS Health will provide prescription and visit information to the participating health care organizations by enabling communication between our secured electronic health record (EHR) systems, which will help enhance clinical care for patients. In addition, patients will continue to have access to clinical support, medication counseling, chronic disease monitoring and wellness programs at CVS/pharmacy stores and MinuteClinic, the retail medical clinic of CVS Health.
“We are pleased to work with Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Lehigh Valley Health Network to enhance access to patient care, improve health outcomes and lower health care costs in communities throughout Kansas andPennsylvania,” said Troyen A. Brennan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CVS Health. “By allowing our electronic health records and information systems to communicate and share important information about the patients we collectively serve, we will have a more comprehensive view of our patients, which can aid in health care decision making and help ensure patients adhere to important medications for chronic diseases.”
CVS/pharmacy currently has more than 7,800 retail pharmacy locations across the U.S. where CVS pharmacists provide counseling to patients to help them be adherent to their chronic disease medications. In addition, MinuteClinic also plays an important role by providing patients with timely, affordable and high-quality walk-in health care. There are also nearly 1,000 MinuteClinic walk-in medical clinics available at CVS/pharmacy retail stores. MinuteClinic locations are open seven days a week, offering evening hours with no appointment necessary and most health insurance is accepted. The clinics are staffed by nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants who provide treatment for common illnesses and administer wellness and prevention services, including health-condition monitoring for patients with chronic diseases.
Health care providers at participating affiliates will receive data on interventions conducted by CVS pharmacists to improve medication adherence for their patients. The affiliation also encourages collaboration between the health care providers and MinuteClinic providers to improve coordination of care for patients seen at MinuteClinic locations. Through this collaboration, the affiliate organizations and MinuteClinic practitioners will also work together on planning strategies around chronic care and wellness. If more comprehensive care is needed, patients can follow up with their primary care provider and have access to affiliates’ services as appropriate. For those patients who do not have regular access to health care, MinuteClinic provides information to help patients in finding a primary care physician and a greater opportunity for continuity of health care services.
MinuteClinic, CVS/pharmacy and the participating health care providers will begin to work toward streamlining and enhancing communication through their EHR systems. This will include the electronic sharing of messages and alerts from CVS/pharmacy to affiliates’ physicians regarding medication non-adherence issues. In addition, MinuteClinic will electronically share patient visit summaries with the patient’s primary care physician when they are part of an affiliate organization and with the patient’s consent. MinuteClinic will continue its standard practice of sending patient visit summaries to primary care providers who are not affiliated with these participating health care organizations via fax or mail, with patient consent.
The new affiliations announced here bring the total number of clinical collaborations for CVS Health and MinuteClinic to more than 60 major health systems and health care providers across the country.
About CVS Health
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through its 7,800 retail drugstores, nearly 1,000 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with more than 70 million plan members, and expanding specialty pharmacy services, the Company enables people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable, effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs.
