MinuteClinic enters Northern California, Coastal Southeastern North Carolina

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark has announced that the first MinuteClinic locations in Northern California and the Bay Area have now opened inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.  



Three MinuteClinic locations are now operating in Foster City, San Jose and Sunnyvale CVS/pharmacy stores. Four additional clinics will begin to treat patients in November in Burlingame, Campbell, Mountain View and Santa Clara.



There are 35 MinuteClinic locations elsewhere in California, spanning from the San Fernando Valley to San Diego. MinuteClinic's entry into Northern California is part of the company's national expansion plan to open 150 clinics nationwide in 2013.



"Since opening the first clinics in Southern California in 2007, MinuteClinic has helped expand access to high-quality, convenient and affordable care to thousands of residents who have visited convenient CVS/pharmacy locations near where they live and work," stated Andrew Sussman, MinuteClinic president and CVS Caremark SVP/associate chief medical officer. "MinuteClinic can help support the primary care medical home in California at a time when the nation faces physician shortages coupled with increased patient demand as a result of the [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act and an aging population."



Approximately half of MinuteClinic patients are seen on evenings, weekends and holidays, Sussman noted. And those patients who visit MinuteClinic without a primary care physician — which is about half of the patients that MinuteClinic sees — are provided a list of physicians in the area who are accepting new patients.

In other company news, MinuteClinic has also announced the opening of its first location in Coastal Southeastern North Carolina on Market Street in Wilmington. Additional clinics in Carolina Beach and Leland are expected to open in late October. The Wilmington clinic marks MinuteClinic's 54th in North Carolina.