Canada’s Pharmaprix to Introduce Additional Care Clinics in Stores

Starting in 2025, Pharmaprix, a pharmacy chain in Quebec under the Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation (owned by Loblaw), will expand its care clinics after a successful year-long pilot program. This move comes as U.S. retailers also explore similar concepts.

Pharmaprix’s innovative care clinics offer customers access to primary care services in a 450-square-foot space. Services include hormonal contraception, shingles treatment, acne management, urinary tract infection care, allergic rhinitis treatment, and vaccine administration. Pharmacists also monitor and adjust medication for chronic conditions like blood pressure, diabetes, and hypothyroidism.

During the pilot phase, five pharmacies participated and achieved notable results:

• Over 30,000 patients were treated in the pharmacy care clinics.
• Nearly 10,000 consultations addressed common health issues like urinary tract infections, gastric reflux, and eczema.
• Pharmacists monitored 9,000 patients with chronic illnesses, with 20% reaching their treatment goals.
• Around 1,675 rapid strep tests were conducted.
• Pharmacies with care clinics administered 2.5 times more vaccines than those without.

Canada’s government plans to broaden pharmacists’ roles by creating a more flexible regulatory framework, allowing the profession to adapt to the population’s evolving healthcare needs.

Meanwhile, pharmacy-led healthcare has seen mixed results in the U.S. CVS Health plans to open 26 Oak Street Health clinics inside existing CVS stores across 14 states by the end of 2024, with eight already operational. Walgreens Boots Alliance opened VillageMD clinics in some stores but has been scaling back, closing clinics in Illinois and Florida to cut capital costs. Even CVS Health closed 25 MinuteClinic locations in Los Angeles earlier this year to focus on future growth strategies.

However, on-site care clinics have proven to boost foot traffic. A recent Placer.ai report white paper, “The Healthcare Opportunity in Grocery,” highlighted that Kroger’s Dillon stores with clinics saw a 93% increase in visits compared to their banner-wide average. Other grocery chains like Fry’s, King Soopers, and H-E-B also saw notable increases in foot traffic due to in-store clinics.