One Million Patients Treated at Take Care Clinics Nationwide

Take Care Health Systems, the largest and most comprehensive provider of convenient care clinics and worksite health and wellness centers in the country and a wholly owned subsidiary of Walgreens (NYSE, NASDAQ: WAG), treated its one millionth Take Care Clinic patient in December. Take Care Clinics, walk-in clinics open seven days a week, are located at select Walgreens drugstores throughout the country.

Take Care Clinics provide an attractive option for insured and uninsured families looking to stay healthy while controlling their health care spending in a challenging economy. Company data captured from Take Care Clinics’ 1 million patient visits show:



* Had it not been for a Take Care Clinic, nearly 30 percent of patients would have gone to a more costly site of service – the ER or Urgent Care and 11 percent would not have sought treatment at all.

* Approximately 20 percent of patients either are uninsured or pay cash for these services (suggesting they may be uninsured or underinsured).

* Roughly 30 percent of patients that visit Take Care Clinics do not have a health care home (a primary care provider they see routinely for ongoing health care needs) and are subsequently referred to a local primary care physician.

* Patients are thrilled with their experience; recent results illustrate 92 percent overall patient satisfaction.

“The retail clinic model clearly fills an unmet need in the health care market. Overall, patients have widely embraced this new option for care, with visits nearly quadrupling since 2006 and more than doubling in the last year,” said Carl Doty, research director at Forrester Research. “Looking forward, this widespread consumer adoption will only continue to drive growth for the sector, and research projects that a year from now about one out of four people will have visited a retail clinic at least once.”