CVS Health is shutting down its walk-in clinics in Utah this week, a spokesperson confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune this week. It’s unclear how many Utahns employed by the pharmacy will be impacted by shuttering the clinics.
The “MinuteClinics” offered basic health care services including vaccine appointments, COVID-19 tests and sports physicals performed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Services were available by appointment or on a walk-in basis.
“We regularly evaluate MinuteClinic’s footprint to ensure it meets the demands of our patients and aligns with our health care delivery strategy,” CVS said in a statement to The Tribune on Monday. “As a result, we made the difficult decision to close our three MinuteClinic locations in Utah by December 7 to help support future growth and design in the next evolution of community health destinations.”
Utah’s three remaining MinuteClinics were in Highland, Ogden and West Jordan. The Highland and West Jordan clinics have already closed, according to CVS’s website. Ogden’s clinic is open but no appointments are available online this week.
Each Utah clinic provided sports physicals and sore/strep throat treatment, according to the CVS website. The West Jordan clinic also offered COVID-19 testing.
CVS still offers virtual on-demand care seven days a week, the spokesperson said. And most Utah CVS pharmacies offer flu, COVID-19 and other vaccines.
Patients who require a physical assessment, however, will need to find another provider.
The pharmacy has also shut down MinuteClinics in parts of California and New England, following a trend of retail pharmacies offering, and then closing, in-store primary care.
Meanwhile, CVS announced plans last month to expand in-network primary care services to Aetna members in some MinuteClinic locations.
“We believe, at the end of the day, it’s our obligation and privilege to serve the communities and deliver better, more comprehensive primary care for those patients coming into MinuteClinic,” Dr. Creagh Milford, CVS Health’s president of retail health, said in a news release last month.
CVS said in its statement to The Tribune that it will try to find “different opportunities within the company” for Utah’s MinuteClinic clinical staff.
“Those who are not able to find a new role will be offered severance benefits,” the statement said. CVS did not say how many clinical staff work in Utah.
Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainability for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.
