Through an affiliation, the retail pharmacy and the health system are jointly operating three in the Seattle area, opened three clinics Monday in the Portland area and have plans to open 19 more throughout Oregon and Washington, according to the report. The aim of the partnership is to bring more patients into the Providence system and appeal to patients who need quick appointments, according to the report.
However, the civil rights groups wrote in the letter about concerns that care will be limited by religious doctrine, according to the report.
Walgreens responded and said the affiliation won’t affect the pharmacy services it provides or the policies provided at the clinics. In fact, Providence Medical Group CMO Ben LeBlanc, MD, noted that the clinics are not even designed to offer services that might fall under the concerns of the civil rights groups, according to the report. The express clinics are for common colds, cuts, rashes, stomach pains, sprains and other routine preventive care.
“The item that would be most likely to come up in these retail settings would be around birth control,” Dr. LeBlanc told The Oregonian. “In all of our clinics the decisions around prescribing birth control is left to the provider and patient. They together determine what’s the best course of action for that patient.”
The clinics may provide a one-time refill of a birth control prescription, but are not meant to provide long-term gynecological care, according to a statement from Providence cited in the report.
More articles on leadership and management:
NPR poll finds most Americans feel ACA had no personal impact
Productivity, strategy and culture: 10 must-reads for healthcare leaders this week
7 healthcare layoffs in February
