The conditions — which included CVS dispensing charity care at all seven MinuteClinics and a donation of $25,000 each time a MinuteClinic could not locate a primary care provider within a five-mile radius to a patient in need — were outlined in a May 14th decision by the Rhode Island Department of Health and its Director Michael Fine, MD, to approve the licensing of seven MinuteClinics.
According to Convergence RI, following private meetings with Rep. Nicholas Mattiello, Gov. Lincoln Chafee, Head of the R.I. Department of Administration Richard Licht and Director of the R.I. Office of Management and Budget Peter Marino, the approval — and conditions — were revised to omit certain conditions in order to ensure the legislation was “more business friendly,” according to the report. The changes included the relegation of CVS charity care to the already existing R.I. Free Clinic, instead of the seven planned MinuteClinics.
CVS argues the MinuteClinics fulfill the consumer demand for more convenient and efficient services. Opponents of the amended approval are concerned with the way in which CVS appears to have circumvented the public forum and how that creates a precedent for future healthcare legislation, according to Convergence RI.
The MinuteClinics are expected to create as many as 200 jobs in Rhode Island — mostly at CVS headquarters located in Woonsocket, where the employees are responsible for the overall efforts of the MinuteClinics now operating in 28 other states. The MinuteClinics will focus efforts on routine care and patient convenience.
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