Walgreens (NYSE, NASDAQ: WAG), whose home care division is a national
leader in providing home infusion and respiratory services, has entered
into a joint venture with Vanderbilt Medical Center, a Nashville-based
comprehensive healthcare facility and a major patient referral center
for the mid-South. The joint venture will operate under the name
Vanderbilt Home Care, affiliated with Walgreens Infusion and Respiratory
Services, and will be located in Brentwood, Tenn.
“The opportunity to join with a leading regional medical center in the
provision of home infusion and respiratory services provides us with the
opportunity to strengthen the services we offer our patients,” said Paul
Mastrapa, president of Walgreens-OptionCare. “Vanderbilt’s commitment to
clinical excellence and to delivering positive patient experiences
mirrors our own. Together we will continue to focus on providing care
and service in the best way possible for our patients.”
“Vanderbilt Medical Center has a long heritage in the values of
continuum of care. For the past 24 years, Vanderbilt has provided home
health services to the community, and we are particularly interested in
enhancing and improving the services we have to offer. A joint venture
with a company like Walgreens allows us to enhance the way we meet our
mission by providing home infusion, respiratory services and durable
medical equipment for all patients in the community. The value of this
partnership allows patients to receive care in their homes and promotes
independence and wellness in the community,” said Laura Beth Brown,
president of Vanderbilt Home Health Care Services.
Vanderbilt also operates a traditional home health agency in addition to
the Walgreens joint venture. The agency provides nursing, physical,
speech and occupational therapies, social work and private duty services
and will support the infusion nursing needs required for home infusion
therapies.
This is the fourth joint venture of this type Walgreens has established.
It has similar agreements with organizations in Idaho, Ohio and Oregon.
These joint ventures assist in expanding Walgreens service area and in
providing access to home infusion and respiratory therapies to greater
numbers of patients.
Home infusion therapy is a cost-effective alternative to receiving
intravenous drug therapy in the hospital. Patients receive treatment in
the comfort of their homes, in convenient alternate treatment sites or
other non-hospital settings.
