WOONSOCKET, R.I., and WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) and Inverness Medical Innovations (NYSE: IMA), through its Alere health management business, today announced a strategic alliance which will enhance the companies' ability to deliver more timely, highly coordinated and personalized health management services. The companies said the alliance will improve participants' health care outcomes while helping payers and employers more efficiently manage costs. This can be achieved as participants are engaged through multiple delivery channels - including convenient and less costly venues like retail clinics.
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The alliance means chronically ill patients served by CVS Caremark's Accordant Common disease management programs will be managed and have access to expanded offerings provided by Alere, a leader in health services for wellness, disease management, oncology and complex case management.
Alere customers will gain access to direct service by MinuteClinic retail health clinic nurse practitioners and CVS pharmacists. Customers of both companies will have access to a broad array of services ranging from those provided through the high touch, in-home monitoring, telephonic and web-based offerings of Alere, to the face-to-face counseling provided at approximately 500 MinuteClinics and nearly 7,000 CVS/pharmacy locations around the country.
"This alliance strengthens the clinical options we offer our customers," said Dr. Troyen Brennan, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CVS Caremark. "Our patients gain access to Alere's expanded suite of services, such as wellness, prevention and health management programs. These also include programs tailored to meet the needs of women and children. Alere's customers will benefit from direct access to our nurse practitioners at MinuteClinic and CVS pharmacists at our retail stores."
Recent studies have shown participants benefit from management of more serious illnesses through face-to-face interaction with health care providers. CVS Caremark has integrated retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefit management and the retail clinic businesses and developed Proactive Pharmacy Care to take advantage of the unmatched consumer touch points provided through its stores and clinics.
"This strategic alliance creates a first in the health management space, a more direct connection for participants between proven health management programs and their trusted providers in CVS pharmacies," said Ron Geraty, CEO of Alere.
