Retail Clinics

ATLANTA The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still is recommending people who have not yet gotten their H1N1 flu shots that they do so. H1N1 vaccine is widely available, CDC officials noted.

In a conference call with reporters on Monday, the CDC that H1N1 has “not gone away,” with regional activity still being reported throughout the southeast, most notably in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Hospitalizations attributed to H1N1 have been on the rise for three consecutive weeks.

MINNEAPOLIS Mednet, which specializes in Health Information Exchange applications and services, has elected former MinuteClinic CEO Michael Howe to serve as chairman of its board of directors.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. More people felt the 2009-2010 cough-cold season was “about the same” or only “slightly worse” than the year prior, a recent national survey of 1,017 Americans sponsored by Matrixx Initiatives found.

A little less than half, 42%, characterized this past year’s season as about the same historically with regard to illness levels, and 21% suggested it was slightly worse in large part because of the H1N1 pandemic hype.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. GlaxoSmithKline is offering its vaccines free of charge to low-income adults, the British drug maker announced Monday.

The GSK Vaccines Access Program offers adult vaccines for diseases such as hepatitis, tetanus and human papillomavirus for adults ages 19 years and older who lack health insurance coverage for vaccines.

SAN ANTONIO An opinion piece written for the San Antonio Express-News urges health reform in Texas and the need for nurse practitioners to be "given the right to diagnose and prescribe on their own," as done in retail clinics.

NEW YORK An article featured on MedPageToday.com picks up on the expansion of clinic services offered at retail health clinics, underscoring the importance of nurse practitioners and entry into the role in chronic disease management.

"We're evolving our clinic offerings, from episodic treatment to looking at how do we get more chronic disease management, how do we do more prevention, how do we do more screening?" Sandra Ryan, chief nurse practitioner officer for Take Care Health Systems, was quoted as saying.

PHOENIX The charitable arm of the NBA is sending a basketball star out to educate parents about adolescent vaccinations.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. MinuteClinic has named Nancy Gagliano as its new chief medical officer.

"We are thrilled to have Nancy Gagliano join us as our chief medical officer at MinuteClinic," stated Andrew Sussman, M.D., president of MinuteClinic and SVP/associate chief medical officer at CVS Caremark. "Nancy has a superb background in clinical primary care and ambulatory care leadership. She will add great insight and experience to our leadership team as we continue to provide the highest quality care to our patients."