Advocate Health Pulls Out of Walgreens Clinic Locations in Illinois and Wisconsin

Tumultuous times continue for Walgreens as it works to reshape its retail health care strategy. Advocate Health last week closed its 55 clinics inside Walgreens stores in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Each of the 47 clinics in Illinois and eight in Wisconsin employed one or two medical office assistants and other clinicians who supported virtual care services. The partnership began in 2016, with Advocate leasing store space from Walgreens.

Advocate will concentrate on other ways to give patients access to care, including expanded virtual services, a health system spokesperson told Modern Healthcare.

This is just the latest health care transition for the retailer, which is reportedly making progress on renegotiating contracts with its pharmacy benefits managers and while trying to sell its stake in primary care provider VillageMD. Walgreens invested $5.2 billion in VillageMD in 2021 and contributed another $3.5 billion toward VillageMD’s purchase of SummitHealth, a network of multispecialty and urgent care services.