The Doctor is In

CVS Corp. (Woonsocket, R.I.) has announced the opening of MinuteClinic health care centers at six of its stores in the Nashville, Tenn., metropolitan region.

MinuteClinic (Minneapolis) operates health care centers staffed by certified family nurse practitioners who are trained to diagnose and treat illness, write prescriptions and administer common vaccinations, such as flu shots, tetanus, MMR and Hepatitis A & B.

“MinuteClinic offers customers convenient, high-quality health care services and is a natural extension of our mission to be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use,” said Chris Bodine, CVS’s executive vp, merchandising. “Along with their reputation for high-quality health care, MinuteClinic has proven its ability to work collaboratively with physicians in the prompt diagnosis and treatment of patients.”

MinuteClinic nurse practitioners use a software program that guides diagnosis, treatment and billing. At the conclusion of each visit, the software generates educational material, an invoice and a prescription for the patient, as well as a diagnostic record that is automatically sent to the patient’s primary care provider’s office. A supervising physician is on call during all hours of operation.