The partnership will shake up how VUMC, Saint Thomas Health and TriStar Health compete for patients

VUMC anticipates 65,000-82,000 visits a year to the retail clinics.

The clinics could be used as off-site clinics for employers that want to arrange care for patients.

Average consumer at Walgreens clinic is a 34-year-old female.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will take over and operate the retail clinics in more than a dozen Walgreens stores across Middle Tennessee in a multi-year partnership that will promises to reshape how patients interact with the health system.

The Vanderbilt outposts will be a faster way for patients around the region to see providers, who will have access to their records, for routine conditions in locations that are open every day with longer hours and transparent pricing — not to mention better parking.

The existing retail clinics in 14 stores in Davidson, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties will be re-branded as Vanderbilt Health Clinic at Walgreens in November when the transition occurs. The medical staff in the clinics — most care is delivered by nurse practitioners — will be employed by VUMC, which is leasing the space from Walgreens.

"I just see this as a great addition," said Dr. C. Wright Pinson, deputy executive officer and chief health system officer for VUMC. "There is a whole panoply of choices — people can go to emergency rooms, people can go to urgent cares, walk-ins, doctor's offices or they can go to these sorts of retail clinics."

"I don't think anyone has any questions about whether Vanderbilt has the capability of high-end care, and this is a capability or an opportunity, if you will, to make care available that isn't such high-end but very cost effective and convenient."

Reaching the people who may not have primary care doctors

Retail clinics — not to be confused with urgent care clinics that often stand alone, and perform more tests — have been cropping up in stores and pharmacies around the country for about a decade. People can walk in off the street and see a clinician for a variety of treatments ranging from vaccines to physicals to basic blood work.

Prices are almost always posted and insurance isn't required. Pinson said the prices and hours will remain the same.

Pinson is excited about the chance for VUMC to interact in a more low-key, convenient environment for people who may not have a primary care physician and are largely unacquainted with the health care system.

For younger people who aren't chronically ill or need specialized treatment retail clinics, along with urgent care clinics, have become a primary place to turn when small things arise.

The average patient at a Walgreens retail clinic is a 34-year-old female, said Dr. Pat Carroll, Walgreens Healthcare clinics' chief medical officer.

"There are a lot of people who don't have primary care docs," said Pinson. "They need care and this is where they go, either on an urgent basis, or there are some who use this repeatedly as their form of primary care."

Linking systems for better coordination

CVS and Walgreens have taken different approaches. CVS runs its own clinics while Walgreens has been pursuing local partners in several of the markets where it has clinics.

CVS affiliates with local systems. In Nashville, it’s affiliated with TriStar Health.

Roughly half of Walgreens’ clinics will be run by partner health systems once its clinics in Nashville and Atlanta transition to local partners.

The Nashville market has been more receptive to the retail clinic model than some of Walgreens' other markets, said Carroll, who attributed the open-mindedness to the heavy presence of health care companies. The Little Clinic, now owned by Kroger, was founded in the area.

More:Patient care doesn't keep Tennessee's hospitals in the black

Carroll looks to partner with well-regarded health systems that are interested in taking new steps toward consumer-facing care.

Talks with Walgreens took about two years as VUMC put together plans for how it would staff the clinics, integrate billing and collections, ensure compliance and connect the clinics with its electronic health records system, said Pinson.

It also had to lay fiber cables to make sure the clinics could connect instantaneously to its computer system.

The connectivity is key, said Carroll, because it gives the health system a chance to bring more patients into the fold, and gives patients the opportunity to have coordinated care.

Walgreens encourages its partners to expand the types of services provided. Most of its retail clinics treat people aged 18 months and older, but one partner saw a need for more pediatric care so it lowered the age to 12 months, Carroll said.

"I'm very impressed with the type of structure they set up to run this clinic," said Carroll. "We share their enthusiasm.”

Trying to get to people who don't have doctor relationships

Retail clinics are beginning to be integrated into larger systems, and the country’s current health care system struggles to coordinate care and not duplicate services.

The long-term impact of retail clinics on how people use emergency rooms or on spending is still being studied, according to analysts and researchers.

Michelle LaVone Richardson market analyst at Decision Resources Group said there are minimal success stories about health systems being able to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits. Richardson tracks the number of retail clinics in several markets and said that she’s heard from a couple of executives that ER visits are as high as before retail or walk-in clinics opened.

Pinson doesn’t foresee the retail clinics as substitute for the emergency room but as an option for someone who needs, or wants, care for a non-emergency condition and is weighing whether to go to the ER.

Pinson is anticipating 65,000-82,000 visits a year to the retail clinics.

Around Nashville, the partnership will shake up how VUMC, Saint Thomas Health and TriStar Health compete for patients.

Each health system has rolled out a variety of initiatives aimed at getting in front of patients when they need care. TriStar’s CareNow urgent care clinics and push on freestanding emergency rooms across the region have helped make it the leader in the Middle Tennessee market.

Saint Thomas Health unveiled a 24-hour virtual clinic statewide that is available whether or not a patient has insurance.

And VUMC is going after the Nashville-market with an on-demand program that sends a nurse practitioner to where the patient is.

More:Bigger patient bills spur Saint Thomas Health to offer more paid upfront services

It’s essentially an arms race to get in front of patients — and show employers, as well as insurers, that the health system offers a full complement of facilities and services.

As for the VUMC-Walgreens deal, Pinson plans to work with employers that want to offer a clinic to employees but might not be large enough to have one on-site. Pinson envisions contracts with companies that carve out dedicated services or times for employees to come by to the Walgreens clinic.

The employer-provider route is emerging as a business opportunity for a variety of health care companies. Employers, particularly in Tennessee where chronic disease weighs on the health of the workforce, want resources to help keep workers healthy.

“If I could get a few of those deals going, then I would think this is a home run,” said Pinson.

Reach Holly Fletcher at hfletcher@tennessean.com or 615-259-8287 and on Twitter @hollyfletcher.