MinuteClinic to Cut 150 Jobs
A scheduled
shift of its headquarters from Minneapolis, MN to Woonsocket, RI will result in the elimination of 150 jobs at retail walk-in clinic operator MinuteClinic during 2010. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, MinuteClinic, a division of drugstore retailer CVS Caremark, is moving to the city where its parent company is headquartered.
Most employees scheduled for layoff will leave Minute Clinic in January 2010, with the remainder leaving in the second and third quarters of next year. The employees, who work in corporate and administrative positions, will be allowed to apply for other open jobs within the company.
A statement by a CVS spokesperson indicates the headquarters move is aimed at improving integration and alignment between MinuteClinic and the parent company, and the layoffs are not resulting from financial difficulties. While CVS does not break out separate MinuteClinic financial data, in Q2 2009 the retailer
reported increases in net revenues and earnings, operating profit and same-store sales.
MinuteClinics offer short appointments with reimbursable treatments that cost between $30 and $125, including health screenings and vaccinations as well as other simple medical diagnoses and procedures. CVS acquired MinuteClinic in 2006.
In March 2009, CVS did
seasonally shutter about 90 of its roughly 500 MinuteClinic locations. However, walk-in retail clinics are becoming increasingly common across a variety of verticals. Competing drugstore retailers including Walgreens and Rite Aid operate walk-in clinics at select stores, as do discount retailers Target and Wal-Mart and supermarket retailer H-E-B. CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid have all been actively promoting their clinics as sources for a variety of tests and treatments for
H1N1 flu, and Walgreens is providing
free medical tests and routine treatments at its Take Care in-store walk-in clinics to customers who lose their jobs and health insurance through the end of 2009.
