Walgreens, Providence Health partner in retail clinics in Seattle, Portland

Walgreens will open 25 new clinics across Oregon and Washington in partnership with hospital operator Providence Health and Services, the company announced on Friday, as the pharmacy chain continues to grow its clinical business.

Walgreens will open 25 new clinics across Oregon and Washington in partnership with hospital operator Providence Health and Services, the company announced on Friday, as the pharmacy chain continues to grow its clinical business.

According to Walgreens, the clinics will run under a collaborative services model, linking patients with doctors in the Seattle-based health system. Providence will share in the branding of the clinics.

It will be the first time Walgreens opens collaborative clinics, but it won't be the first time a healthcare provider has partnered with the booming retail clinic market.

A recent Robert Wood Johnson report showed more than 100 of these provider-clinic relationships already exist, and more providers are expected to sign on. Competitor CVS already has 47 affiliations with its MinuteClinic outposts. Walmart, Kroger, target and RiteAid are also expanding their retail clinics, as more patients look for convenient ways to get primary care that doesn't include the long wait times and appointment hassles of traditional primary care offices. Most of these run on a walk-in basis.

[Also: Health systems rush to partner with booming retail clinic market, report says]

Dubbed either Providence Express Care or Swedish Express Care, the clinics will hopefully bridge the gap between hospital-based urgent care and coordinated primary care. In the short term, Walgreens will open three clinics with Providence in Portland, Oregon and three in Seattle in 2016. The company will expand that number within the next two years, it said.

"This is a reflection of our efforts to develop deeper and more strategic relationships with our health system partners," said Jeff Koziel, Walgreens group vice president for Healthcare Clinics, in the announcement. "Collaboration among providers is key in today's healthcare environment, to help ensure continuity of patient care and to provide greater convenience and access for patients."

Under terms of the agreement, Walgreens' electronic health records platform will link directly with ones in use by Providence and its Swedish Health Services affiliate.

The growth of retail health clinics comes as more providers embrace population health, the idea that by focusing on the overall health of a total population, and the entire spectrum of care people receive through primary, outpatient or hospital-based services, you have a better effect on the total health of a community, which lowers hospital utilization and, by that extent, costs.

[Also: Zoom+ clinic model adds its own insurance option]

Ultimately, hospitals are more in the business of keeping people out of the hospital than ever before.

Walgreens isn't the only company boosting its presence in the Portland and Seattle area. Startup clinic Zoom+, which is based in Portland, runs 28 clinics in the area and recently added its own insurance option.

Twitter: @HenryPowderly