MinuteClinic, Barnabas Health team up

Physicians with Barnabas Health, a seven-hospital system based in West Orange, N.J., will serve as medical directors for three nurse practitioner-operated retail clinics in New Jersey operated by MinuteClinic, the Woonsocket, R.I.-based division of CVS Caremark Corp.

The clinics are located in CVS stores in Jackson, Manalapan and Marlboro. Barnabas will collaborate on patient education and disease-management initiatives and will take patients whose conditions require above the level of service MinuteClinics provide, according to a news release.

With patient permission, MinuteClinic will send medical histories and visit summaries via its electronic health-record system to Barnabas locations in Monmouth and Ocean counties. The release noted that MinuteClinic and Barnabas Health “will begin to work toward fully integrating electronic medical-record systems.”

MinuteClinic recently entered into a similar agreement with Virtua, a four-hospital system based in Marlton, N.J., covering stores in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties.

According to the Convenient Care Association, there are about 1,400 retail clinics operating in the U.S., compared with 1,000 in 2009.