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Walgreens To Open 9 Health Clinics In Bay Area

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By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 2, 2007

TAMPA - The influx of convenient care clinics continues to rise in the Bay area.

Walgreens will open nine Take Care Health Clinics in the Tampa market as part of a nationwide push to add 400 of the centers to its 6,000 locations in the next year. The local clinics should open by November, said company spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce. She declined to identify specific locations.

In recent years, major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Publix Super Markets have introduced their own clinics. Walgreens top competitor – CVS – operates Minute Clinic operations in five Tampa Bay area stores. Independent retail clinics also have started to crop up in stand-alone locations.

The retail clinic concept is attractive to customers looking for convenient treatment of minor ailments such as strep throat or poison ivy. Nurse practitioners staff the seven-day-a-week operations and are able to prescribe remedies for the ailments.

The walk-up visits cost on average between $50 and $80. And many major health insurance plans are accepted, as is Medicare and Medicaid.

Bruce said Florida's large population and booming senior population makes it a key market for Walgreens' new clinics. The first wave of the Take Care Clinic expansions will also take place in the Orlando and Miami markets, she said Monday.

The link between major pharmacy chains and convenient care clinics is growing more obvious. Walgreens purchased the 63-location Take Care Health Clinics company earlier this year. CVS purchased the Minute Clinic chain in the last few years.

The clinics also serve as a customer magnet for retailers with existing pharmacies. Wal-Mart, for example, has added six such independently-operated clinics in Florida, a company spokesperson said. One is in Tampa, on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Since 2006, Publix has opened 21 Little Clinics in its stores, including five in Tampa Bay.

Reporter Mary Shedden can be reached at (813)259-7365 or mshedden@tampatrib.com.

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