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MinuteClinic soon will move HQ to Rhode Island
The shift of headquarter jobs will not affect operations at the 24 clinics in Minnesota.
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MinuteClinic will move its headquarters next year from Minneapolis to Woonsocket, R.I, eliminating 150 jobs here, officials confirmed Tuesday.
It amounts to a cutting of the umbilical cord for MinuteClinic, which pioneered the low-cost kiosks staffed by nurse practitioners back in 2000 in Minnesota and spawned a national industry in retail clinics.
Although CVS Caremark Corp. bought MinuteClinic in 2006, the Woonsocket-based drugstore and pharmacy benefits giant had kept MinuteClinic's headquarters in Minneapolis.
Until now.
The move "supports our goal of tighter integration of MinuteClinic with CVS Caremark," said spokeswoman Carolyn Castel. It also will "foster better alignment with CVS Caremark's chronic care, patient engagement and disease management initiatives."
While MinuteClinic started out offering a limited menu of simple services -- treating sinus infections, ear infections and so on -- it is branching out to blood pressure checks and cholesterol screening and other services.
MinuteClinic is the biggest chain of retail clinics in the country, with 500 outlets. Walgreens' TakeCare is second, with about 350 outlets.
The first MinuteClinic employees in Minneapolis will be laid off in January, with most leaving in the second and third quarters of 2010, Castel said. They are in a variety of corporate and administrative positions and may apply for other jobs within the company, she said.
The departure from Minneapolis is no surprise, said Tom Charland, a retail clinic consultant in Shoreview and former senior vice president of strategy for MinuteClinic who left in 2005: "For people on the inside, it was pretty obvious" this was going to happen.
Operations of the 24 MinuteClinic locations in Minnesota will not be affected. MinuteClinic last week announced it is teaming up with Allina Hospitals and Clinics to coordinate care for patients and refer patients to each other.
Chen May Yee • 612-673-7434
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