Walgreens Boots Alliance and its primary care partner VillageMD are opening 500 to 700 … [+]
News that VillageMD is considering an initial public offering would be the latest primary care provider to become publicly-traded to boost its expansion efforts.
Bloomberg News Wednesday reported VillageMD, which last year got a $1 billion investment from Walgreens Boots Alliance, is “planning to go public.” Already publicly-traded is One Medical, which launched its IPO last year, while there are others backed by venture capital firms, health insurers and private equity looking at IPOs, according to reports.
VillageMD is already well-funded and rolling out a major expansion of its physician-staffed clinics thanks to Walgreens. Neither Walgreens nor VillageMD had a comment Wednesday following the Bloomberg story.
Walgreens last July said it will invest $1 billion in its primary care partner VillageMD to open 500 to 700 physician-staffed clinics inside its drugstores in more than 30 U.S. markets within the next five years. Walgreens executive chairman Stefano Pessina called the partnership the “most relevant development” for the drugstore giant during the 2020 Forbes Healthcare Summit in December.
In the Walgreens effort with VillageMD, the clinics will build on the 2,500-square-foot facilities that opened in 2019 next to five Walgreens stores in the Houston area and are called “Village Medical at Walgreens.” Most of the new Village Medical At Walgreens clinics will be 3,300 square feet but some will be as large as 9,000 square feet, the companies have said.
Walgreens primary care expansion comes as rivals roll out their own primary care expansions. CVS Health is opening 1,500 HealthHub store formats with more healthcare items and medical services to complement its established MinuteClinics staffed by nurse practitioners while Walmart is opening more “Walmart Health” centers that feature an array of primary medical services, dental care, and behavioral health services as part of a new model.
“At Village Medical at Walgreens, our experienced physicians and providers work closely with Walgreens pharmacists every day to ensure patients get accessible, personalized and coordinated care when they need it,” VillageMD chief executive Tim Barry said last year. “In today’s complex healthcare environment, this integrated model of care is more important than ever. When patients adhere to the appropriate care and medication regime, health outcomes improve.”
