Retail health clinics grow in popularity

Retail health clinics, such as the ones seen in Walgreens, CVS drug stores and even Walmarts, have been on the rise since 2005. CVS' Minute Clinic concept has about 600 sites nationwide and registers about 11 million patient visits annually. This growth comes after only having a handful of clinics in 2005, said Angela Patterson, regional director of operations for CVS' Minute Clinics in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. The company, which has six locations in the valley, is also looking to add 100 clinics per year for the next four years. Walgreens has 350 of its Take Care clinics around the country, 13 locally, and Walmart has 140 nationwide.