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Longs Drug

DAVIS, Calif. -- Just a few weeks after MinuteClinic unveiled plans to ramp up expansion on the East Coast, a brand-new, start-up called Wellness Express opened its first outlet last month at a Longs Drug store here. The company has two more clinics set to open this month and hopes to expand with Longs and other retailers on the West Coast.

The Wellness Express Clinic operates along the same lines as MinuteClinic, with a limited menu of services focused on common ailments like bronchitis and strep throat that can be diagnosed easily and treated with antibiotics. The idea is to give people a quick and convenient alternative to an emergency room or urgent care visit.

"We didn't invent this idea; it's been around for a while with MinuteClinic," Wellness Express president Wesley Chan, M.D., who heads a team of physicians behind the venture, told Drug Store News at the Wellness Express Clinic's April 19 grand opening event. "We just thought it was time to bring the concept to California."

The glassed-in clinic occupies about 200 square feet at the back of the store and consists of a waiting room and exam room. A list of prices and services hangs on the wall, and appointments aren't necessary. Clinics are staffed by a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant licensed to write prescriptions, and the average visit takes about 15 minutes. The clinics also provide screenings for common ailments like high cholesterol and diabetes.

The quick turnover is attributed to the restricted menu of services--anyone with a serious ailment outside the Wellness Express Clinic's scope is referred to a doctor--and the fact that clinics don't deal with insurance. "We don't bill insurance companies, but we provide patients with the paperwork," Chan explained.

Chan said the company chose the Sacramento suburb of Davis for its first clinic because of the demographics. "There are plenty of students and young families and a lot more, people without insurance than you would think, he said.

By the end of this month, Wellness Express is slated to have two more clinics open at Longs Drug stores in the cities of Sonoma and Salinas. Company chief executive officer Paul Kaufmann said he hopes to open more clinics with Longs, but doesn't have an exclusive contract with the 470-store chain. The company is currently in discussions with other chains and "some big-box retailers," he said.

For its part, Longs is waiting to see how the first three clinics perform before discussing future plans. But one executive who was on hand for the Davis opening said it fulfilled a goal Longs has had for several years.

"Ever since the first MinuteClinic opened, we've been looking for an opportunity [to bring the concept] to California," said Bruce Schwallie, executive vice president of business development and managed care for Longs. "Once we developed a relationship with [Wellness Express], we decided this was the group we wanted to work with."

Chan said San Ramon, Calif.-based Wellness Express plans to expand in its home state and Hawaii in the short term. He said rolling out clinics should be relatively easy because they take up as little as 100 square feet and have standard colors and signage.

The opening of Wellness Express is another sign that the concept of retail-based medical offices is poised to take off. Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic announced plans in April to open up to 75 new clinics later this year in four new states. And published reports noted that America Online founder Steve Case has established a holding company called Revolution and is looking to invest as much as $250 million of his personal wealth in wellness and health care ventures similar to MinuteClinic.

The Wellness clinics fit well with Longs' ongoing effort to maintain a small-town approach to customer service. "We're all about improving the health and wellness of our customers and we're always looking for ways to expand on that,' said Phyllis Proffer, director of investor relations for Longs. "And they give us a way to differentiate ourselves from the competition."

That's an important factor, given the fact that drug store rivals like Walgreens and CVS are expanding in California and invading a region that's home to about 80 percent of Longs' stores. If the clinics are a success, they'll give Longs an added edge being as neither chain has shown an interest in opening MinuteClinic-style facilities.

Longs executives would not speculate on how the clinics might impact its sales, but they should help, if the performance of stores with MinuteClinics is any indication. Company officials there say up to 95 percent of prescriptions written at its clinics in Target and Cub Foods stores are filled on site and that 55 percent of customers purchase a general merchandise item while waiting for prescriptions to be filled.

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