Advocate Health Care to run 56 metro Chicago Walgreens clinics: 6 things to know

Walgreens is outsourcing 56 in-store healthcare clinics across the greater Chicagoland area to Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care.

Here are six things to know about the arrangement.

1. Under the arrangement, Advocate will own and operate the clinics, which are located in Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

2. The clinics will be branded as Advocate Clinic at Walgreens.

3. The clinics will continue to offer walk-ins and same-day appointment scheduling and will open under Advocate Health Care in May 2016.

4. Advocate Clinics at Walgreens will be staffed by board-certified nurse practitioners employed by, trained by and supervised by Advocate Medical Group. Advocate plans to try to hire its initial workforce from among the employees currently working at Walgreens' clinic locations.

5. Officials said in a news release the arrangement "will strengthen care coordination for patients, while also furthering overall convenience and access." Pat Carroll, MD, CMO for Walgreens Healthcare Clinics, added, "We believe this approach will help ensure a true continuum of care for patients and their providers. This is also an emphasis for our Walgreens-managed clinics, where we continue to make investments, such as a new EHR platform, to offer patient benefits through a variety of convenient care options."

6. This is not the first arrangement between Walgreens and Advocate Health Care. Walgreens currently operates on-site pharmacy locations at three Advocate Health Care hospitals, with plans to expand to three more Advocate Health Care hospitals in the near future.